Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of novel 4-anlinoquinazoline derivatives as EGFR inhibitors with the potential to inhibit the gefitinib-resistant nonsmall cell lung cancers

A series of quinazoline derivatives with benzylidene hydrazine carboxamide were designed and synthesised as EGFR inhibitors. Most compounds exhibited exceptional anti-proliferative activity against A549, HepG2, MCF-7 and H1975 cells. Furthermore, six compounds demonstrated excellent inhibition activity against EGFR(WT) with the IC(50) value both less than 2 nM. Among the six compounds, 44 exhibited the strongest activity (0.4 nM) and potently inhibited EGFR(L858R/T790M) (0.1 μM). Excitingly, the most potent compound 14 showed excellent enzyme inhibitory activity with 6.3 nM and 8.4 nM for both EGFR(WT) and EGFR(T790M/L858R). The result of AO single staining and Annexin V/PI staining showed that the compound 14 and 44 could induce remarkable apoptosis of A549 cells. The compound 14 arrested the cell cycle at the S phase and compound 44 arrested the cell cycle at the G0 phase in A549 cells. These preliminary results demonstrate that compound 14 and 44 may be promising lead compound-targeting EGFR.