Design, synthesis and anticancer evaluation of acridine hydroxamic acid derivatives as dual Topo and HDAC inhibitors

[Display omitted] •Compounds targeting Topo and HDAC concurrently were designed and synthesized.•All of the compounds displayed potent Topo II and HDAC inhibition potency.•Compound 8c obviously suppressed tested tumor cells proliferation.•8c could interact with DNA and induce apoptosis of U937 cells. Multitarget inhibitors design has generated great interest in cancer treatment. Based on the synergistic effects of topoisomerase and histone deacetylase inhibitors, we designed and synthesized a new series of acridine hydroxamic acid derivatives as potential novel dual Topo and HDAC inhibitors. MTT assays indicated that all the hybrid compounds displayed good antiproliferative activities with IC50 values in low micromolar range, among which compound 8c displayed potent activity against U937 (IC50 = 0.90 μM). In addition, compound 8c also displayed the best HDAC inhibitory activity, which was several times more potent than HDAC inhibitor SAHA. Subsequent studies indicated that all the compounds displayed Topo II inhibition activity at 50 μM. Moreover, compound 8c could interact with DNA and induce U937 apoptosis. This study provides a suite of compounds for further exploration of dual Topo and HDAC inhibitors, and compound 8c can be a new dual Topo and HDAC inhibitory anticancer agent.