Preparation of Anticancer Analogs that Target Metastatic Breast Cancer

The American Cancer Society estimates over 200,000 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in the United States this year. Although the primary tumors that remain in the breast are typically removable by surgery. Metastasis of the cancerous cells to vital organs often leads to mortality. Inflammatory cytokines have been shown to result in increased levels of metastatic breast cancer due to their roles in increasing cell detachment, migration, and invasion. Inhibiting theses cytokines is crucial to the prevention of cancer progression. This project aims to synthesize a variety of potential inhibitors of these cytokines. During our first generation of synthesized compounds, various starting bromoacetoacetates were subjected to a Knoevenagel condensation involving an appropriately substituted cinnamaldehyde, followed by a Hantzsch thiazole synthesis. These compounds were resistant to further modification. The second generation synthesis relied upon Perkin’s reactions between thiazole-3-acetic acid, cinnamaldehydes and derivatives. A second family of inhibitors are being prepared via a palladium catalyzed Suzuki reaction between dibrominated furfural and a variety of aryl boronic acids. Preparation of these inhibitors and biological assays will be reported. The described studies could lead to the development of a therapy targeted against inflammatory cytokines in metastatic breast cancer