Anticancer synthetic arylsulfonamides with Wnt1-modulating activity

Dysregulation of the Wnt1/β-catenin signaling pathway has been demonstrated to be a driving factor in the propagation of several human cancers. Previous studies have discovered methyl 3-{[(4-methylphenyl)sulfonyl]amino}benzoate (MSAB) as a selective inhibitor of the Wnt1/β-catenin signaling pathway, which putatively functions through direct engagement of β-catenin. To understand how changes to the identity and position of the methyl ester affect the in vitro potency of this compound in Wnt1-driven mammalian cell lines, we prepared and evaluated three analogs of MSAB with 3- and 4-substituted methyl and ethyl esters. In MTT assays, analogs with methyl esters showed significantly more activity than their ethyl ester counterparts and both 4-substituted esters exhibited significantly attenuated antiproliferative activity, with MSAB exhibiting dose-dependent activity across cancerous cell lines. Further analysis by flow cytometry reveals low-Annexin V signal, suggesting that these compounds do not function via a pro-apoptotic pathway. Additionally, through a TCF/LEF-activated luciferase reporter cell assay, we observe that the 4-substituted methyl ester analogous to MSAB exhibits slightly diminished Wnt1-inhibitory activity, while 3- and 4-substituted ethyl esters exhibit minimal Wnt1-inhibitory activity. This difference in potency with a simple ester substitution might be attributed to several factors that ultimately drive antiproliferative activity, prompting the investigation of other potential substituents to further investigate the structure-activity relationship of these compounds as Wnt1-based antiproliferative agents.