N,N‐Diarylsulfonamide Reduces Proinflammatory Cytokine Interleukin‐6 Levels in Cells through Nuclear Factor‐κB Regulation

Abstract The arylsulfonamides were synthesized from aryl sulfonyl chloride and aromatic amines in dichloromethane in the presence of pyridine. The aryne chemistry was used to prepare diarylsulfonamide from arylsulfonamides and O ‐silylaryl triflate with CsF in acetonitrile at room temperature for 30 min. The synthesized compounds were evaluated for cytotoxicity followed by the cytokine/inflammatory marker's inhibition capability and its mechanism of action in RAW‐264.7 cells. Elevated interleukin‐6 (IL‐6) levels have been reported in inflammatory conditions and inflammation‐associated disorders. Hence, reducing the IL‐6 levels in inflammatory conditions can serve as an attractive therapeutic target in dealing the inflammation. Among 42 compounds, seven compounds showed significant inhibition of IL‐6 levels in lipopolysaccharide (LPS) challenged RAW‐264.7 cells at 12.5 μM concentration. Further, investigation revealed that the IC 50 value of these compounds for reducing IL‐6 levels was found to be in the range of 2.6 to 9.7 μM. The promising compounds 5y (IC 50 of 2.6 μM) and 5n (IC 50 of 4.1 μM) along with other derivatives fulfil drug‐likeness parameters laid down by Lipinski's rule of five. Further, RT‐qPCR and Western‐blot analysis revealed that treatment with 5n significantly reduced the expression of pro‐inflammatory, inflammatory and macrophage marker's expression (IL‐1β, CCL2, COX2 and CD68) compared to LPS control. The mechanistic evaluation showed that 5n exhibited anti‐inflammatory properties by modulating the nuclear factor‐κB (NF‐κB) activation. The identified compound can be a promising candidate for further discovery efforts to generate a preclinical candidate effective in inflammation.