Nur77 is a potential target for the treatment of cancer such as HCC. Herein, we detailed the discovery of a novel series of 5-((8-methoxy-2-methylquinolin-4-yl)amino)-1H-indole-2-carbohydrazide derivatives as potential Nur77 modulators. The studies of antiproliferative activity and Nur77-binding affinity of target compounds resulted in the discovery of a lead candidate (10g), which was a good Nur77 binder (K_D = 3.58 ± 0.16 μM) with a broad-spectrum antiproliferative activity against all tested hepatoma cells (IC₅₀ < 2.0 μM) and was low toxic to normal LO2 cells. 10g could up-regulate Nur77 expression and mediate sub-cellular localization of Nur77 to induce apoptosis in hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines, which relied on 10g inducing Nur77-dependent autophagy and endoplasmic reticulum stress as the upstream of apoptosis. Moreover, the in vivo assays verified that 10g significantly inhibited xenograft tumor growth. These results indicate that 10g has the potential to be developed as a novel Nur77-targeting anti-hepatoma drug.

Nur77是治疗HCC等癌症的潜在靶标。在这里，我们详细介绍了新型的5-（（（8-甲氧基-2-甲基喹啉-4-基）氨基）-1 H-吲哚-2-碳酰肼衍生物作为潜在的Nur77调节剂系列。对目标化合物的抗增殖活性和Nur77结合亲和力的研究导致发现了领先的候选药物（10g），它是一种良好的Nur77结合剂（K _D  = 3.58±0.16μM），对所有测试物质均具有广谱抗增殖活性肝癌细胞（IC ₅₀  <2.0μM），对正常LO2细胞毒性低。10克可以上调Nur77的表达并介导Nur77的亚细胞定位以诱导肝癌细胞系的凋亡，这依赖于10g诱导Nur77依赖性自噬和内质网应激作为凋亡的上游。此外，体内试验证实10g显着抑制异种移植肿瘤的生长。这些结果表明10g有潜力被开发为靶向Nur77的新型抗肝癌药物。