Development of potent non-estrogenic estrone sulfatase inhibitors

Estrogen levels in breast tumors of post-menopausal women are as much as 10 times higher than estrogen levels in plasma, presumably due to in situ formation of estrogen. The major source of estrogen in breast cancer cells may be conversion of estrone sulfate to estrone by the enzyme estrone sulfatase. Thus inhibitors of estrone sulfatase have potential for the treatment of estrogen-dependent breast cancers. Several steroidal agents have been developed that are potent estrone sulfatase inhibitors, most notably estrone-3-O-sulfamate. These compounds may have undesired actions, especially estrogenicity. Recently, non-steroidal estrone sulfatase inhibitors have been designed that avoid the problems associated with an active steroid nucleus; however, these have not achieved the potency of estrone-3-O sulfamate. We have designed and synthesized a series of compounds, 17 beta-(N-alkylcarbamoyl)-estra-1,3,5(10)-trien-3-O-sulfamates (6a-d) and 17 beta-(n-alkanoyl)-estra-1,3,5(10)-trien-3-O-sulfamates (11a-d) that combine the structural features of the steroidal estrone sulfatase inhibitors with a membrane insertion region that should increase the affinity for the sulfatase enzyme and decrease the estrogenicity of the steroid. We tested the compounds for estrone sulfatase inhibition by measuring estrone sulfatase activity in intact cultures of human breast cancer cells (MDA-MB-231). We tested for estrogenicity by measuring growth of estrogen-dependent MCF-7 human breast cancer cells. All of the test compounds (10 nM) substantially inhibited estrone sulfatase activity of intact MDA-MB-231 cells. Dose-response analysis indicated an IC50 of approximately 0.5 nM for two of the compounds (6a and 11a). In the test for estrogenicity, estrone and estrone-3-O-sulfamate significantly stimulated MCF-7 cell growth. In contrast, neither the 17 beta-(N-alkylcarbamoyl)-estra-1,3,5(10)-trien-3-O-sulfamates nor the 17 beta-(N)-alkanoyl)-estra-1,3,5(10)-trien-3-O-sulfamates stimulated growth of MCF-7 cells at a concentration of 1 mu M, indicating that they are not estrogenic at levels 2000 greater than their IC50 for estrone sulfatase. Our data indicate the utility of the new compounds for inhibition of breast cancer cell estrone sulfatase activity. Further our data support the concept that estrone sulfatase inhibitors may be useful as therapeutic agents for estrogen-dependent breast cancers. (C) 1998 by Elsevier Science Inc.