Anti-Cancer Activity of Gabapentin and Chiral Amino Acids-Based Hybrid-Peptides against MCF-7 Breast Cancer Cell-Line

Aims: Herein, we report the cytotoxicity of gabapentin-based peptides (11a-11j) using L-alanine and L-phenyl alanine chiral amino acids for peptide bond formation in ten efficient and straightforward steps. The in vitro MTT assays of derived molecules on the MCF-7 cell line (a human breast adenocarcinoma cell line) exhibited enhanced antitumor activity compared to the control (100% cell proliferation).

Methods: The ten steps synthetic methods were adapted for the synthesis of the Gabapentin-based peptide derivatives through BOC- deBOC methods and using EDC-HCl, DMAP and commercially available solvents. All the synthesized peptides were unambiguously characterized with the help of spectroscopic (IR, 1H NMR, 13C-NMR, mass spectra, and elemental) data analysis.

Results: The Compounds 11a, 11b, 11h,11i, and 11j showed a remarkable antiproliferative (cell death) activity, with % cell proliferation values ranging from 25-38 %.

Conclusion: The study showed that the compounds with some specific functionalities like, benzylic and trifluoromethyl functionality enhanced the potency with comparable %cell proliferation and cell death. Based on the findings in this work and their easily accessible molecular structures, compounds 11a and 11j are worthy of further biological investigations.