Study of interactions between titanocene dichloride and mononucleotides by high-resolution 1H- and 31P-nuclear magnetic resonance

Intracellular mapping of the distribution of metals derived from the antitumor metallocenes

The intracellular distribution of transition metals in V79 Chinese hamster lung cells treated with subtoxic doses of the organometallic anticancer complexes Cp(2)MCl(2), where Cp is eta (5) -cyclopentadienyl and M is Mo, Nb, Ti, or V, has been studied by synchrotron-based X-ray fluorescence (XRF). While significantly higher concentrations of Mo and Nb were found in treated cells compared with control cells, distinct differences in the cellular distribution of each metal were observed. Analysis of thin sections of cells was consistent with some localization of Mo in the nucleus. Studies with a noncytotoxic thiol derivative of molybdocene dichloride showed an uneven distribution of Mo in the cells. For comparison, the low levels of Ti and V in cells treated with the more toxic titanocene and vanadocene complexes, respectively, resulted in metal concentrations at the detection limit of XRF. The results agree with independent chemical studies that have concluded that the biological chemistry of each of the metallocene dihalides is unique.

Titanium complexes in cancer treatment

A series of complexes containing titanium, Ti, as a metal center has shown to possess a wide spectrum of antitumor properties. This series belongs to the non-platinum metal antitumor agents which has been developed mainly in the past 20 years. The bis(beta-diketonato)titanium(IV) and titanocene derivatives appear to offer a different alternative for cancer chemotherapy which do not follow the rationale and mechanism of action of the platinum complexes. The hydrolysis of these complexes in aqueous and pseudo aqueous solutions is discussed and the interaction studies of titanium complexes with biomolecules are also presented to unravel the mechanism of action at molecular levels.