A Potent EGFR Inhibitor, N-Phenyl Pyrazoline Derivative Suppresses Aggressiveness and Cancer Stem Cell-Like Phenotype of Cervical Cancer Cells
Metastasis causes approximately 90% of cancer-related deaths, including in cervical cancer patients. Uncontrolled cell proliferation, migration, and cancer stemness act as critical events in primary tumor growth and cancer metastasis progression in cervical cancer. Here, we investigated the anti-proliferative, anti-migration, and cancer stemness inhibition activity of N-phenyl pyrazoline derivatives against cervical cancer cells. The chalcone and phenylhydrazine were used to synthesize the N-phenyl pyrazoline 2/5 (P2 and P5). The MTT, colony formation, and wound healing assays were performed to evaluate the N-phenyl pyrazoline effect in HeLa cells. The N-phenyl pyrazoline's protein target was predicted using SwissTargetPrediction and AutoDock Vina software. The Western blotting assay was performed to evaluate the target proteins. The public dataset analysis was used to confirm the clinical relevance of target protein in cervical cancer patients. N-phenyl pyrazoline 2 and 5 were successfully synthesized. The N-phenyl pyrazolines 2 and 5 exhibit cytotoxic effect in HeLa cell line with 20.26 µM, 4.708 µM of IC N-phenyl pyrazoline 5 suppresses the cell viability, proliferation, migration, and cancer stem cell-like phenotype of cervical cancer cells via EGFR inhibition.