Novel quinoline-4-thiazolidinone derivatives as anticancer agents targeting the biological macromolecular protein-EGFR tyrosine kinase with dual anticancer and antioxidant activities

The study investigates the anticancer, antioxidant, and EGFR inhibitor potential of quinoline-conjugated 4-thiazolidinone derivatives (17-32) using in vitro and in silico techniques. The compounds were synthesized via a multistep process and characterized by IR, ¹H-NMR, ¹³C-NMR, and mass spectrometry. Antioxidant activity was assessed using the DPPH assay, while anticancer activity was evaluated through MTT assay on MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cancer cell lines. EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibition was examined through enzymatic assays and molecular docking studies. ADMET and drug-likeness properties were predicted using pkCSM and SwissADME. Among the series, compounds 30, 31, and 32 showed notable anticancer activity and strong EGFR binding affinity. ADMET analysis confirmed their favourable pharmacokinetic profiles. These findings identified compounds 30, 31 and 32 as promising leads for the development of novel EGFR-targeted anticancer agents.