Substituted 1-(benzo[d]thiazol-2-yl)-3-phenylurea derivatives as anti-invasion agents

Developing small molecule drugs to treat metastatic cancer remains challenging and relies on the identification of novel druggable targets within the multistep metastatic cascade. To this end, the pro-metastatic scaffolding protein, MDA-9/Syntenin-1 was identified and confirmed as a suitable target uniquely involved in the multiple stages of metastasis. Recently, the first-in class PDZ1 domain inhibitor for MDA-9, PDZ1i, was identified displaying significant anti-invasion activity improving survival in an in vivo glioblastoma and in multiple metastatic cancer mouse models. Herein, we report a focused library of substituted 1-(benzo[d]thiazol-2-yl)-3-phenylurea derivatives inspired by the anti-invasion and anti-metastatic agent, PDZ1i. Our studies revealed that 1-(benzo[d]thiazol-2-yl)-3-phenylurea analogs bearing 6-trifluoromethyl (3y) and 6-bromo (3aa) substituents display anti-invasion activity comparable to PDZ1i. However, compounds 3y and 3aa displayed overall decreased cancer cell selectivity and MDA-9 activity relative to PDZ1i. Nonetheless, the reported 1-(benzo[d]thiazol-2-yl)-3-phenylurea derivatives serve as promising starting points for future development of small molecule anti-invasion agents with potential to prevent and treat metastatic cancers.