Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of novel acridine and quinoline derivatives as tubulin polymerization inhibitors with anticancer activities

A series of acridine and quinoline derivatives were designed and synthesized based on our previous work as novel tubulin inhibitors targeting the colchicine binding site. Among them, compound 3b exhibited the highest antiproliferative activity with an IC50 of 261 nM against HepG-2 cells (the most sensitive cell line). In addition, compound 3b was able to suppress the formation of HepG-2 colonies. Mechanism studies revealed that compound 3b...