Synthesis of novel pyrazoline derivatives and the evaluation of death mechanisms involved in their antileukemic activity

[Display omitted] •H3TM4 and H3TM6 are highly cytotoxic and selective to several neoplastic cell lines.•H3TM4 and H3TM6 have physicochemical properties for a good oral bioavailability.•H3TM4 and H3TM6 induce cell cycle arrest and decrease cell proliferation.•Cell death by H3TM4 and H3TM6 involves intrinsic and extrinsic apoptosis.•H3TM4 and H3TM6 kill cancer cells from patients with different acute leukemia subtypes. Malignant neoplasms are one of the leading causes of death worldwide and hematologic malignancies, including acute leukemia (AL) is one of the most relevant cancer types. Current available chemotherapeutics are associated with high morbidity and mortality rates, therefore, the search for new molecules with antitumor activity, specific and selective for neoplastic cells, became a great challenge for researchers in the oncology field. As pyrazolines stand out in the literature for their great variety of biological activities, the aim of this study was to synthesize and evaluate the antileukemic activity of five new pyrazoline derivatives. All pyrazolines showed adequate physicochemical properties for a good oral bioavailability. The two unpublished and most effective pyrazoline derivatives have been selected for further experiments. These compounds are highly selective for leukemic cells when compared to non-neoplastic cells and did not cause lysis on human red blood cells. Additionally, selected pyrazolines induced cell cycle arrest at G0/G1 phase and decreased cell proliferation marker KI67. Apoptotic cell death induced by selected pyrazolines was confirmed by morphological analysis, assessment of phosphatidylserine residue exposure and DNA fragmentation. Several factors indicate that both intrinsic and extrinsic apoptosis occurred. These were: increased FasR expression; the predominance of Bax in relation to Bcl-2; the loss of mitochondrial membrane potential; AIF release; decreased expression of survivin (an antiapoptotic protein); and the activation of caspase-3. The selected pyrazolines were also found to be cytotoxic against neoplastic cells collected from the peripheral blood and bone marrow of patients with different subtypes of acute leukemia.