The discovery of a novel compound with potent antitumor activity: virtual screening, synthesis, biological evaluation and preliminary mechanism study

Farnesyltransferase has been regarded as a promising drug target against cancer as it is critical for membrane association of several signal transduction proteins. In this study, a novel farnesyltransferase inhibitor (IMB-1406) was identified through virtual screening. It exhibits stronger potency (IC(50)s: 6.92–8.99 μM) than Sunitinib against all of the tested cancer cell lines. Preliminary studies on mechanism reveal that IMB-1406 induces apoptosis in HepG2 cells by arresting the cell cycle at the S phase, altering anti- and pro-apoptotic proteins leading to mitochondrial dysfunction and activation of caspase-3. This anti-tumor effect is most probably related to the inhibition of farnesyltransferase as indicated by molecular docking. Overall, IMB-1406 is a novel lead compound with potent antitumor activity and deserves further structural modifications.