Pioneering first-in-class HDAC-ROCK inhibitors as potential multitarget anticancer agents

With the aim of simultaneously modulating the epigenetic system and the protein kinase pathway, we selected the enzyme histone deacetylase (HDAC) and the Rho-associated protein kinases (ROCK) as desired targets to develop potential multitarget anticancer agents with additional antimetastatic properties. We report here the rational design, synthesis, and biological evaluation of the first-in-class HDAC/ROCK multitarget inhibitors in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) and triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC).

A molecular docking study performed with the Gold software was used to develop HDAC/ROCK multitarget inhibitors. IC₅₀ values were determined by enzyme assays. The cytotoxicity, anti-migratory and anti-invasive properties of the inhibitors were evaluated using triple-negative breast cancer cells (MDA-MB-231 and HCC 1973) and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma cells (Panc-1 and MiaPaCa-2).

C-9 showed significant inhibition of HDAC6, ROCK1 and ROCK2. At the same time, this compound showed strong antiproliferative effects on MDA-MB-231, MiaPaCa-2 and Panc-1 cell lines with IC₅₀ values of 5.81 μM, 3.87 μM and 19.57 μM. In addition, it demonstrated great anti-invasive and anti-migratory effects.

The findings of this study strongly suggest that the simultaneous inhibition of ROCK and HDACs holds significant potential as a promising therapeutic strategy in the advancement of cancer treatment.