SARs of a novel series of s-triazine compounds targeting vimentin to induce methuotic phenotype

Herein, we describe the design, synthesis and structure−activity relationships of a series of novel s-triazine compounds can induce methuotic phenotype in various types of cancer cells. (E)-1-(4-Chlorophenyl)-3-(4-((4-morpholino-6-styryl-1,3,5-triazine-2-yl)amino)phenyl)urea, compound V6, exhibited a striking methuotic phenotype with a minimal effective concentration of less than 10 nM in U87 glioblastoma cells. Based on structure−activity relationship studies, we designed and synthesized an active probe P1 that retained the full potential of V6 in inducing the methuotic phenotype in U87 glioblastoma cells. Using this probe following affinity-based proteomic profiling strategy, we identified vimentin as the specific target protein of compound V6. Molecular docking revealed that V6 can form hydrogen bonds with vimentin at 273R and 276Y in its rod domain.