Antiproliferative effects of novel urea derivatives against human prostate and lung cancer cells; and their inhibition of β-glucuronidase activity

Twenty-one novel urea derivatives were synthesized and their structures characterized by mass, NMR, IR, and UV spectroscopy. These compounds were evaluated for their antiproliferative profile against human PC-3 (prostate) and NCI-H460 (lung) cancer cell lines. Among them, compound 21 N-(3-nitrophenyl)-N'-(1-phenylethyl)urea was found to be active against both PC-3 (IC50 +/- A SEM: 20.13 +/- A 0.91 mu M) and NCI-H460 (GI(50): 22 +/- A 2.6 mu M) cell lines; hence has the potential to be further studied as anticancer agent. These compounds were also investigated for their ability to inhibit urease, beta-glucuronidase, and phosphodiesterase enzymes. N-(2,6-Dimethylphenyl)-N'-(4'-nitrophenyl)urea (1) demonstrated 90 % inhibition of beta-glucuronidase enzyme (IC50 +/- A SEM: 3.38 +/- A 0.043 mu M).