Synthesis, molecular modeling, and biological evaluation of 1,2,4-triazole derivatives containing pyridine as potential anti-tumor agents

There is an accumulating body of experimental evidences validating focal adhesion kinase (FAK) as a therapeutic target and offering opportunities for anti-tumor drug development. In present study, we sought to synthesize twenty-eight potential FAK inhibitors as anti-tumor agents based on 1,2,4-triazole skeleton. The bioassay assays demonstrated that compounds 3e and 6j showed the most potent activity, 3e inhibited the growth of HCT116 and HepG2 cell lines with IC₅₀ values of 8.17 and 7.04 μM, while compound 6j showed the most potent biological activity against HCT116 cell line (IC₅₀ = 1.99 μM). Besides, compound 6j also exhibited significant FAK inhibitory activity (IC₅₀ = 2.41 μM). The results of flow cytometry and western-blot assay demonstrated that compounds 3e and 6j possessed good anti-proliferative activity. Docking simulations were performed to position compounds 3e and 6j into the active site of FAK to determine the probable binding model.