Assessing the Antiangiogenic Effects of Chalcones and Their Derivatives

Pathological angiogenesis plays a critical role in tumorigenesis and tumor progression, and anti-angiogenesis therapies have evinced promising antitumor effects in solid tumors. Chalcone skeleton has been regarded as a potential antitumor agent that also targets angiogenesis. In this study, we designed twenty-one non-fluoro-substituted chalcones (13–18, 24–27) and saturated chalcone derivatives (19–23, 28–33) as anti-angiogenic compounds. During the initial stage, these compounds were assessed for their anti-cancer activities against MCF-7 cancer cell lines according to the MTT assay. The compounds revealed satisfactory anti-proliferative capability. An ex vivo fertilized hens’ egg-chorioallantoic membrane (HET-CAM) angiogenic study was conducted for the compounds to gauge their mortality and toxicity, which, in turn, revealed a potent anti-angiogenic effect. Eight compounds (16, 17, 21, 24, 26, 27, 29, and 31) significantly reduced densities of capillaries on CAM, whereas compounds 27 and 29 were the most effective anti-angiogenic agents, when compared with Suramin. Moreover, RT-qPCR analysis demonstrated that the anti-angiogenic activity was associated with the fold changes of VEGFR2. Molecular docking studies were conducted for compounds to investigate their mode of interaction within the binding site of VEGFR-2 kinases. This work provided a basis for further design, structural modification, and development of chalcone derivatives as new anti-angiogenic agents.