Boron Containing Curcumin-Like Compound as an Acetylcholinesterase Inhibitor and Anticancer Agent: Synthesis, Biological Evaluation, and Computational Insights

Alzheimer's disease (AD) and cancer are significant global health challenges that highlight the need for the development of new therapeutics. Targeting biological mechanisms involved in both AD and cancer could be an effective treatment strategy for developing novel inhibitors. In this study, we investigated the effect of a newly synthesized boron containing curcumin-like compound as a potential acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitor along with its cytotoxic effects on breast and colorectal cancer cell lines. Compound A exhibited a potent AChE inhibitory activity (IC50 = 22.89 +/- 2.32 nM), demonstrating that it was more effective than the known inhibitors donepezil (IC50 = 28.32 +/- 3.27 nM) and tacrine. Compound A showed a moderate cytotoxic activity on MCF-7 and BT20 cells with the IC50 values 40.70 +/- 2.31 mu M and 41.71 +/- 4.51 mu M, respectively. Throughout molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, the RMSD value of the protein was calculated as 1.56 +/- 0.20 & Aring; and 1.65 +/- 0.19 & Aring; for the complexes of compound A and curcumin, respectively. The interactions with specific amino acid residues such as Tyr124, Tyr337, and Trp86 for AChE, and Trp82, His438, and Tyr332 for BChE were obtained. Additionally, MM/GBSA calculations demonstrated that Compound A had the highest binding free energies (-88.89 +/- 8.34 kcal/mol for AChE and -73.25 +/- 8.83 kcal/mol for BChE) compared to curcumin (-67.87 +/- 5.48 kcal/mol for AChE and -51.68 +/- 5.28 kcal/mol for BChE) and tacrine (-56.67 +/- 2.22 kcal/mol for BChE) were calculated. Overall, these findings suggest that Compound A is a promising agent with its potent AChE inhibitory activity and anticancer potential, making it a valuable candidate for further research in neurodegenerative diseases and cancer therapy.