New Diclofenac Hydrazones: Design, Synthesis, in Silico Studies and Anticancer Evaluation Against Breast Cancer

Abstract

Breast cancer remains one of the most prevalent and lethal malignancies among women, highlighting the urgent need for novel therapeutic strategies that can overcome resistance mechanisms. The p38 alpha mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK14) plays a key role in inflammation-associated oncogenic signaling, making it an attractive molecular target for drug development. In this study, a novel series of diclofenac-based hydrazone derivatives (4a-4o) were designed, synthesized, and characterized using FT-IR, 1H- and 13C-NMR spectroscopy, thin-layer chromatography, and elemental analysis. Computational target profiling using SwissTargetPrediction identified MAPK14 as the primary predicted target. Molecular docking against the MAPK14 crystal structure (PDB ID: 1WBS) revealed high binding affinities (-11.41 to -8.34 kcal/mol), supported by MM/GBSA free energy calculations and molecular dynamics simulations, which confirmed stable ligand-protein interactions through hydrogen bonding with Asp168 and Glu71. In vitro cytotoxicity assays on MCF-7 (luminal A) and MDA-MB-231 (triple-negative) breast cancer cell lines demonstrated low-micromolar IC50 values, with compounds 4c, 4d, and 4e showing the strongest activity (2.1-4.5 mu M), surpassing the reference drug Tamoxifen. Overall, the results indicate that diclofenac hydrazones represent promising candidates anticancer properties through MAPK14 inhibition, providing a foundation for the development of next-generation therapeutics against breast cancer.