Levofloxacin reposition-based design: synthesis, biological evaluation of new levofloxacin derivatives targeting topoisomerase II beta polymerase as promising anticancer agents, molecular docking, and physicochemical characterization

Abstract

Repositioning of already approved medications through repurposing or re-profiling for new medical uses after certain structural modifications is a novel approach in drug discovery. Fluoroquinolone antibiotics are one of the cardinal agents investigated for potential anticancer activities. In this work, levofloxacin was repositioned for anticancer activities. A series of levofloxacin-based compounds were designed and synthesized through the derivatization of levofloxacin's carboxylic acid functionality. The newly synthesized compounds were screened for cytotoxic activities against breast, liver, and leukemia cancer cell lines. Their effect on normal cells was also investigated. The target compounds were evaluated for their proliferative inhibitory activity toward topoisomerase II beta polymerization. Compound 5 showed higher inhibitory activity against a breast cancer cell line (MCF-7) with IC₅₀ = 1.4 μM and lesser side effects on a normal breast cell line (MCF-10a) with IC₅₀ = 30.40 μM than reference drugs. The best activity against a liver cancer cell line (Hep3B) was exhibited by compounds 3c, 4b, 5, 7, 8, 13a and 13c with IC₅₀ values ranging from 0.43 to 8.79 μM. Regarding the effect of compounds 5 and 13a on a leukemia cancer cell line (L-SR), their IC₅₀ values were 0.96 and 3.12 μM, respectively. Compounds 3c and 5 showed Topo2β inhibitory effects on Hep3B cells (81.33% and 83.73%, respectively), which was better than levofloxacin and etoposide as reference drugs. Cytometry cell cycle analysis revealed that compounds 3c and 5 arrested the cell cycle at the S phase (37.56% and 39.09%, respectively). Compounds 3c and 5 exhibited an elevation in active caspase-3 levels by 4.9 and 4.5 folds, respectively. Molecular modeling simulation of compounds 3c and 5 demonstrated energy scores (−29.77 and −20.46 kcal mol⁻¹, respectively) more than those of the reference drugs as they interact with the most essential amino acids required for good affinity towards human topoisomerase II beta enzyme (PDB ID: 3QX3). Physicochemical characteristics of the most promising cytotoxic compounds 3c and 5 were investigated and compared to etoposide and levofloxacin as reference drugs. However, they showed high gastrointestinal absorption and could not penetrate the blood–brain barrier.