Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of novel 5-hydroxy-2-methyl-4H-pyran-4-one derivatives as antiglioma agents.

d-2-Hydroxyglutarate (d-2HG) is frequently found in human brain cancers. Approximately 50-80% of grade II glioma patients have a high level of d-2HG production, which can lead to cancer initiation. In this study, a series of novel 5-hydroxy-2-methyl-4H-pyran-4-one derivatives were designed and synthesized as antiglioma agents, and their related structure-activity relationships are discussed. Among these novel compounds, 4a exhibited promising anti-proliferative activity against glioma HT1080 cells and U87 cells with an IC50 of 1.43 μM and 4.6 μM, respectively. Further studies found that the most active compound (4a) shows an 86.3% inhibitory rate against the intracellular production of d-2HG at 1 μM, and dramatic inhibitory effects, even at 1 μM on the colony formation and migration of U87 and HT1080 cells.