Benzophenone-nucleoside derivatives as telomerase inhibitors: Design, synthesis and anticancer evaluation in vitro and in vivo.

Based on telomerase, thirteen novel phenstatin moiety linked stavudine derivatives (8a∼8e and 11a∼11f) were synthesized. The structures were determined by NMR and TOF-HRMS. The screening results showed that some compounds had better anti-cancer activity in vivo and in vitro. Among them, Compound 8d showed high inhibitory activity against telomerase and showed good antiproliferative activity against SGC-7901 cell with IC50 value 0.77 μM by inducing cell cycle arrest at G2 phase. It also could improve SGC-7901 cell apoptosis, mitochondrial membrane potential assay indicated that the dissipation of MMP might participate in apoptosis induced by title compound. In vivo studies showed that compound 8d displayed potent anticancer activity with inhibition tumor growth.