Discovery of indole-2-one derivatives as BRD4 (BD1) selective inhibitors

[Display omitted] •Compound 21r manifested promising BRD4 inhibitory activity.•Compound 21r exhibited superior anti-proliferative activity to MV-4–11 cells (IC50 = 0.78 ± 0.03 µM).•21r could down-regulate the expression of c-Myc, arrest the cell cycle in G0/G1 phase and induce apoptosis in MV-4–11 cells. Bromodomain protein 4 (BRD4) is a member of the BET family, and its overexpression is closely associated with the development of many tumors. Inhibition of BRD4 shows great therapeutic potential in anti-tumor, and pan-BRD4 inhibitors show adverse effects of dose limiting toxicity and thrombocytopenia in clinical trials. To improve clinical effects and reduce side effects, more efforts have focused on seeking selective inhibitors of BD1 or BD2. Herein, a series of indole-2-one derivatives were designed and synthesized through docking-guided optimization to find BRD4-BD1 selective inhibitors, and their BRD4 inhibitory and antiproliferation activities were evaluated. Among them, compound 21r had potent BRD4 inhibitory activity (the IC50 values of 41 nM and 313 nM in BD1 and BD2 domain), excellent anti-proliferation (the IC50 values of 4.64 ± 0.30 µM, 0.78 ± 0.03 µM, 5.57 ± 1.03 µM against HL-60, MV-4–11 and HT-29 cells), and displayed low toxicity against normal cell GES-1 cells. Further studies revealed that 21r inhibited proliferation by decreasing the expression of proto-oncogene c-Myc, blocking cell cycle in G0/G1 phase, and inducing apoptosis in MV-4–11 cells in a dose-dependent manner. All the results showed that compound 21r was a potent BRD4 inhibitor with BD1 selectivity, which had potential in treatment of leukemia.