Chemistry, Pharmaceutical and Medicinal Chemistry, Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

he statistical data related to cancer in recent years has shown a great increase in the number of cases and is likely to further increase in the future. Even after seeking thorough knowledge on the aetiology of cancer and related disorders and attempting to cure it by various methods like gene therapy, T cell therapy, chemotherapy, surgery, hormone therapy, and photodynamic therapy, there has always been disappointment concerning the survival rate. Hence, there is still a great urge for the discovery of novel drugs for the treatment of cancer. Chemotherapy being one of the widely used methods, several drug entities possessing anticancer properties are already in the market but none of them is known to show good efficacy which necessitates researchers to design newer drugs for the treatment of cancer. The urge to synthesize novel anticancer entities directed researchers towards molecular hybridization as one of the novel methods for designing newer drugs. Literature reveals wide research carried out on quinolin-2-one hybrids, possessing anticancer properties through different mechanisms. Tipifarnib and Dovitinib are quinolin-2-one hybrids used to treat cancer, possessing imidazole and benzimidazole heterocyclic rings. Different heterocyclic scaffolds such as pyrone, pyrrole, pyrimidine, pyridine, thiazole, and pyrazole in combination with heterocyclic quinolin-2-one have shown high potential to become lead for newer anticancer agents with better and wider therapeutic properties and lesser side effects. The current review presents information on the different quinolin-2-one hybrids and their effect on different cancer cell lines. It also imparts knowledge of the structural requirements for designing novel anticancer agents.