Researchers (from left to right): Anjani Tiwari, Vinay Singh and Anil Mishra.

Providing a new approach to discover anti-cancer drugs, researchers have tinkered with organic compounds called quinazolines to design a series of new compounds that could prove to be effective on malignant tumors1.

Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitors are known to have curative effects on non-small cell lung cancer patients. "But some side effects, such as effects on the skin, have been reported. This prompted us to discover novel EGFR inhibitors without serious side effects," says one of the researchers Vinay Singh.

The team worked on a novel framework by using a structure-based virtual screening approach on a class of compounds called Disubstituted-4(3H)-Quinazolones (fused bicycle aromatic ring systems having different subsitutents at two places) along with chemical synthesis and biological evaluation.

In vitro toxicity performed with different cell lines and showed better efficacy of the novel class of anti-tumor agents.

The authors of this work are from: Department of Chemistry, Meerut College/MIET, Meerut; Division of Cyclotron & Radiopharmaceutical Sciences, Institute of Nuclear Medicine & Allied Sciences, Delhi and Department of Chemistry, University of Lucknow, India.