Design, synthesis and anticancer evaluation of thieno[2,3-d]pyrimidine derivatives as dual EGFR/HER2 inhibitors and apoptosis inducers

[Display omitted] •Sixteen compounds of thieno[2,3-d]pyrimidine derivatives were designed and synthesized.•Anticancer activity was tested against four cancer cell lines.•In vitro anti EGFRwt, EGFRT790M and HER2 activity were evaluated.•Cell cycle analysis and apoptosis were studied.•Molecular docking studies were carried out against EGFRwt and EGFRT790M. Deregulation of many kinases is directly linked to cancer development and the tyrosine kinase family is one of the most important targets in current cancer therapy regimens. In this study, we have designed and synthesized a series of thieno[2,3-d]pyrimidine derivatives as an EGFR and HER2 tyrosine kinase inhibitors. All the synthesized compounds were evaluated in vitro for their inhibitory activities against EGFRWT; and the most active compounds that showed promising IC50 values against EGFRWT were tested in vitro for their inhibitory activities against mutant EGFRT790M and HER2 kinases. Moreover, the antitumor activities of these compounds were tested against four cancer cell lines (HepG2, HCT-116, MCF-7 and A431). Compounds 13g, 13h and 13k exhibited the highest activities against the examined cell lines with IC50 values ranging from 7.592 ± 0.32 to 16.006 ± 0.58 µM comparable to that of erlotinib (IC50 ranging from 4.99 ± 0.09 to 13.914 ± 0.36 µM). Furthermore, the most potent antitumor agent (13k) was selected for further studies to determine its effect on the cell cycle progression and apoptosis in MCF-7 cell line. The results indicated that this compound arrests G2/M phase of the cell cycle and it is a good apoptotic agent. Finally, molecular docking studies showed a good binding pattern of the synthesized compounds with the prospective target, EGFRWT and EGFRT790M.