Screening Novel SAHA Derivatives as Anti-lung Carcinoma Agents: Synthesis, Biological Evaluation, Docking Studies and Further Mechanism Research between Apoptosis and Autophagy.

Four suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA) derivatives (N34, N4I, N4B, N24) were designed and synthesized on the basis of our previous studies on N25. Assays for anti-proliferative activity and histone deacetylase (HDAC) activity were performed against human lung cancer (SPC-A-1, LTEP-a-2, NCI-H1650) and normal lung cells (MRC-5), which were compared with those of SAHA. Molecular docking was used to theoretically confirm the receptor-binding ability of N34. Ultimately, N34 was validated as the best HDAC inhibitor candidate. Furthermore, the effects of N34 on the levels of apoptosis- and autophagy-associated proteins caspase-3, caspase-9, Bcl-2 and Beclin-1 in SPC-A-1 cells were evaluated. N34 exerted more evident effects on human lung cancer than the other three SAHA derivatives did.