Magnolol and honokiol are the two major active ingredients with similar structure and anticancer activity from traditional Chinese medicine Magnolia officinalis, and honokiol is now in a phase I clinical trial (CTR20170822) for advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In search of potent lead compounds with better activity, our previous study has demonstrated that magnolol derivative C2, 3-(4-aminopiperidin-1-yl)methyl magnolol, has better activity than honokiol. Here, based on the core of 3-(4-aminopiperidin-1-yl)methyl magnolol, we synthesized fifty-one magnolol derivatives. Among them, compound 30 exhibited the most potent antiproliferative activities on H460, HCC827, H1975 cell lines with the IC₅₀ values of 0.63–0.93 μM, which were approximately 10- and 100-fold more potent than those of C2 and magnolol, respectively. Besides, oral administration of 30 and C2 on an H460 xenograft model also demonstrated that 30 has better activity than C2. Mechanism study revealed that 30 induced G0/G1 phase cell cycle arrest, apoptosis and autophagy in cancer cells. Moreover, blocking autophagy by the autophagic inhibitor enhanced the anticancer activity of 30 in vitro and in vivo, suggesting autophagy played a cytoprotective role on 30-induced cancer cell death. Taken together, our study implied that compound 30 combined with autophagic inhibitor could be another choice for NSCLC treatment in further investigation.

厚朴酚和厚朴酚是中药木兰具有相似结构和抗癌活性的两种主要活性成分，厚朴酚目前处于晚期非小细胞肺癌（NSCLC）的I期临床试验（CTR20170822）中。为了寻找具有更好活性的有效先导化合物，我们先前的研究表明厚朴酚衍生物C2 3-（4-氨基哌啶-1-基）甲基厚朴酚比厚朴酚具有更好的活性。在这里，基于3-（4-氨基哌啶-1-基）甲基厚朴酚的核心，我们合成了五十一种厚朴酚衍生物。其中，化合物30对具有IC _50的H460，HCC827，H1975细胞系表现出最有效的抗增殖活性浓度为0.63-0.93μM，分别比C2和厚朴酚的效价高10到100倍。此外，在H460异种移植模型上口服施用30和C2也证明30具有比C2更好的活性。机制研究揭示了30种诱导的G0 / G1期癌细胞周期阻滞，凋亡和自噬。此外，通过自体吞噬抑制剂阻断自噬增强的抗癌活性30 在体外和体内，这表明自噬上播放的细胞保护作用30诱导的癌细胞死亡。综上所述，我们的研究暗示化合物30与自噬抑制剂的组合可能是进一步研究NSCLC治疗的另一选择。