Design and synthesis of new indole containing biaryl derivatives as potent antiproliferative agents

A new series of indole containing biaryl derivatives were designed and synthesized, and further biological evaluations of their antiproliferative activity against cancer cell lines (MGC-803 and TE-1 cells) were also conducted. Of these synthesized biaryls, compound 4-methyl-2-((5-methyl-[1,2,4]triazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidin-7-yl)methyl)quinazoline (23) performed as the most potent antiproliferative agent that inhibited cell viability of MGC-803 cells with an IC₅₀ value of 8.28 µM. In addition, investigation of mechanism exhibited that the compound 4-methyl-2-((5-methyl-[1,2,4]triazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidin-7-yl)methyl)quinazoline (23) could inhibit the expression of c-Myc and glycolysis related proteins, decrease the ATP and lactate production, and further induce apoptosis by activating the AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and p53 signaling pathways.