Exploring Pyrazolo[3,4-b]Pyridine and Spiro-Oxindole Hybrids as Selective CDK2 or EGFR Inhibitors for Targeted Cancer Therapy: Design, Synthesis, and Molecular Modeling Insights. (PubMed, Drug Dev Res)
The CDK2 inhibitory evaluation of pyrazolo[3,4-b]pyridines 6a-g and 7a-f revealed that compounds 6e, 7b, and 7c exhibited potent inhibition (IC₅₀ = 0.88, 1.89, and 1.23 μM, respectively), compared to roscovitine (IC₅₀ = 0.84 μM). Among the spiro-oxindole derivatives 8a-d, compounds 8b and 8c demonstrated remarkable EGFR inhibition (IC₅₀ = 0.13 and 0.09 μM, respectively) and significant activity against mutant EGFRT790M (IC₅₀ = 0.32 and 0.14 μM) relative to gefitinib (IC₅₀ = 0.03 and 0.18 μM, respectively)...Molecular docking studies combined with molecular dynamics simulations further supported stable ligand-protein interactions within CDK2, EGFR, and mutant EGFRT790M active sites, with favorable binding energies and conformational stability throughout 100 ns trajectories. Collectively, these findings identify compounds 6e and 8c as promising lead scaffolds for further development of CDK2 or EGFR inhibitors with potent and selective anticancer properties.