Oleanolic acid-NO donor-platinum(II) trihybrid molecules: Targeting cytotoxicity on hepatoma cells with combined action mode and good safety

Recent advances in the chemistry and biology of oleanolic acid and its derivatives

The pentacyclic triterpenes represent a significant class of plant bioactives with a variety of structures and a wide array of biological activities. These are biosynthetically produced via the mevalonate pathway although occasionally mixed pathways may also occur to introduce structural divergence. Oleanolic acid is one of the most explored bioactive from this class of compounds and possesses a broad spectrum of pharmacological and biological activities including liver protection, anti-cancer, atherosclerosis, anti-inflammation, antibacterial, anti-HIV, anti-oxidative, anti-diabetic etc. This review provides an overview of the latest research findings, highlighting the versatile medicinal and biological potential of oleanolic and its future prospects.

Synthesis and biological evaluation of cholic acid-conjugated oxaliplatin as a new prodrug for liver cancer

A cholic acid-conjugated oxaliplatin, LLC-202, is developed as a novel prodrug for liver cancer. The conjugate is obtained by using 3-NH_2-cyclobutane-1,1-dicarboxylate as a linker between the oxaliplatin analogue and cholic acid moiety and cholic acid is strongly bonded to the linker via an amide bond. Pharmacokinetic experiment shows that LLC-202 is mainly distributed and accumulated in the liver after intravenous administration to Sprague-Dawley rats, revealing the liver-targeting profile. Compared to oxaliplatin, LLC-202 is more easily taken up by human liver cancer cells than normal human liver cells. LLC-202 exhibits higher in vitro anticancer activity and higher efficacy comparable to oxaliplatin in treating primary hepatocellular carcinoma in C57BL/6 mice. It can significantly prolong the survival time of tumor-bearing mice by inducing apoptosis and inhibiting proliferation of cancer cells. In addition, LLC-202 shows less cytotoxicity toward normal human liver cells than oxaliplatin. Its acute toxicity in healthy Kunming (KM) mice after i.v. administration is comparable to oxaliplatin. Histopathological examination reveals that the main toxicity of LLC-202 in mice is the depression of bone marrow hematopoietic cells. The results suggest that LLC-202 has great potential for further development as a new prodrug specific for liver cancer.

Recent advances in medicinal chemistry of oleanolic acid derivatives

Oleanolic acid (OA), a ubiquitous pentacyclic oleanane-type triterpene isolated from edible and medicinal plants, exhibits a wide spectrum of pharmacological activities and tremendous therapeutic potential. However, the undesirable pharmacokinetic properties limit its application and development. Numerous researches on structural modifications of OA have been carried out to overcome this limitation and improve its pharmacokinetic and therapeutic properties. This review aims to compile and summarize the recent progresses in the medicinal chemistry of OA derivatives, especially on structure-activity relationship in the last few years (2010-2021). It gives insights into the rational design of bioactive derivatives from OA scaffold as promising therapeutic agents.

Recent Progresses in Conjugation with Bioactive Ligands to Improve the Anticancer Activity of Platinum Compounds

Platinum (Pt) drugs, including cisplatin, are widely used for the treatment of solid tumors. Despite the clinical success, side effects and occurrence of resistance represent major limitations to the use of clinically available Pt drugs. To overcome these problems, a variety of derivatives have been designed and synthetized. Here, we summarize the recent progress in the development of Pt(II) and Pt(IV) complexes with bioactive ligands. The development of Pt(II) and Pt(IV) complexes with targeting molecules, clinically available agents, and other bioactive molecules is an active field of research. Even if none of the reported Pt derivatives has been yet approved for clinical use, many of these compounds exhibit promising anticancer activities with an improved pharmacological profile. Thus, planning hybrid compounds can be considered as a promising approach to improve the available Pt-based anticancer agents and to obtain new molecular tools to deepen the knowledge of cancer progression and drug resistance mechanisms.

Recent Advances in Berberine Inspired Anticancer Approaches: From Drug Combination to Novel Formulation Technology and Derivatization

Berberine is multifunctional natural product with potential to treat diverse pathological conditions. Its broad-spectrum anticancer effect through direct effect on cancer cell growth and metastasis have been established both in vitro and in vivo. The cellular targets that account to the anticancer effect of berberine are incredibly large and range from kinases (protein kinase B (Akt), mitogen activated protein kinases (MAPKs), cell cycle checkpoint kinases, etc.) and transcription factors to genes and protein regulators of cell survival, motility and death. The direct effect of berberine in cancer cells is however relatively weak and occur at moderate concentration range (10–100 µM) in most cancer cells. The poor pharmacokinetics profile resulting from poor absorption, efflux by permeability-glycoprotein (P-gc) and extensive metabolism in intestinal and hepatic cells are other dimensions of berberine’s limitation as anticancer agent. This communication addresses the research efforts during the last two decades that were devoted to enhancing the anticancer potential of berberine. Strategies highlighted include using berberine in combination with other chemotherapeutic agents either to reduce toxic side effects or enhance their anticancer effects; the various novel formulation approaches which by order of magnitude improved the pharmacokinetics of berberine; and semisynthetic approaches that enhanced potency by up to 100-fold.

Targeted and NIR light-controlled delivery of nitric oxide combined with a platinum(iv) prodrug for enhanced anticancer therapy

This study reports a strategy of combining a Pt(iv) prodrug and a ruthenium nitrosyl (Ru-NO) donor into a single nanoplatform {N-GQDs@Ru-NO-Pt@FA} in which the platinum(iv) prodrug is conjugated onto a photoactivatable NO donor (Ru-NO) through a covalent bond and the nitric oxide-releasing platinum prodrug and folate groups are decorated on N-doped graphene quantum dots (N-GQDs). After cellular uptake of the nanoplatform, the platinum(iv) prodrug was reduced to an active anti-cancer Pt(ii) species inside the cancerous cells, and simultaneously, near-infrared (NIR) light illumination induced the release of NO, accompanied by a prominent photothermal effect. This nanoplatform is capable of targeting intracellular co-delivery of Pt(ii) and NO under 808 nm NIR light irradiation, accompanied by photothermal therapy, thereby leading to a significant synergistic therapeutic effect.

Mixed natural arylolefin-quinoline platinum(II) complexes: synthesis, structural characterization and in vitro cytotoxicity studies

Five new platinum(II) complexes bearing a eugenol and a quinoline derivative, namely [η²-4-allyl-2-methoxy-1-(propoxycarbonylmethoxy)benzene]-trans-dichlorido(quinoline-κN)platinum(II), [PtCl₂(C₁₅H₂₀O₄)(C₉H₇N)], (2), {η²-4-allyl-2-methoxy-1-[(propan-2-yloxy)carbonylmethoxy]benzene}-trans-dichlorido(quinoline-κN)platinum(II), [PtCl₂(C₁₅H₁₉O₄)(C₉H₇N)], (3), [η²-4-allyl-2-methoxy-1-(propoxycarbonylmethoxy)benzene]chlorido(quinolin-8-olato-κ²N,O)platinum(II), [Pt(C₉H₆NO)Cl(C₁₅H₂₀O₄)], (4), {η²-4-allyl-2-methoxy-1-[(propan-2-yloxy)carbonylmethoxy]benzene}chlorido(quinolin-8-olato-κ²N,O)platinum(II), [Pt(C₉H₆NO)Cl(C₁₅H₂₀O₄)], (5), and [η²-4-allyl-2-methoxy-1-(propoxycarbonylmethoxy)benzene]chlorido(quinolin-2-carboxylato-κ²N,O)platinum(II), [Pt(C₁₀H₆NO₂)Cl(C₁₅H₂₀O₄)], (6), have been synthesized and fully characterized spectroscopically. A single-crystal X-ray diffraction study was carried out for complexes (2) and (4)-(6). PrEug [or 4-allyl-2-methoxy-1-(propoxycarbonylmethoxy)benzene] in (2), (4) and (6), and ⁱPrEug (the propan-2-yloxy analogue of PrEug) in (3) and (5) coordinate with Pt^II at the ethylenic double bond of the allyl group. In (2)-(6), the donor N atom of the amine group occupies a trans position with respect to the double bond. A comparison of the IC₅₀ values of 0.38-29.23 µM for (2)-(6) with cisplatin, as well as other platinum(II) complexes, indicates an excellent in vitro cytotoxicity against the KB, LU, Hep-G2 and MCF-7 cancer cell lines, with the highest cytotoxic effect (IC₅₀ = 0.38-1.99 µM) being for complexes (4) and (5) bearing a quinolin-8-olate ligand.

Incorporation of nitric oxide donor into 1,3-dioxyxanthones leads to synergistic anticancer activity

Fifty 1,3-dioxyxanthone nitrates (4a ∼ i-n, n = 1-6) were designed and synthesized based on molecular similarity strategy. Incorporation of nitrate into 1,3-dioxyxanthones with electron-donating groups at 6-8 position brought about synergistic anticancer effect. Among them, compound 4g-4 was confirmed the most active agent against HepG-2 cells growth with an IC₅₀ of 0.33 ± 0.06 μM. It dose-dependently increased intramolecular NO levels. This activity was attenuated by either NO scavenger PTIO or mitochondrial aldehyde dehydrogenase (mtADH) inhibitor PCDA. Apoptosis analysis indicated different contributions of early/late apoptosis and necrosis to cell death for different dose of 4g-4. 4g-4 arrested more cells on S phase. Results from Western Blot implied that 4g-4 regulated p53/MDM2 to promote cancer cell apoptosis. All the evidences support that 4g-4 is a promising anti-cancer agent.

Synthesis, structure and in vitro cytotoxicity of platinum(II) complexes containing eugenol and a quinolin-8-ol-derived chelator

The synthesis of potassium (η2-4-allyl-2-methoxyphenol)trichloridoplatinate(II), K[PtCl3(C10H12O2)], (1), starting from Zeise's salt and Ocimum sanctum L. oil has been optimized. Starting from (1), three new platinum(II) complexes, namely (η2-4-allyl-2-methoxyphenol)chlorido(2-methylquinolin-8-olato-κ2 N,O)platinum(II), (2), (η2-4-allyl-2-methoxyphenol)chlorido(5-nitroquinolin-8-olato-κ2 N,O)platinum(II), (3), and (η2-4-allyl-2-methoxyphenol)chlorido(5,7-dichloroquinolin-8-olato-κ2 N,O)platinum(II), [Pt(C9H4Cl2NO)Cl(C10H12O2)], (4), containing eugenol and a quinolin-8-ol derivative (R-OQ), have been synthesized and characterized by elemental analyses, MS, IR, 1H NMR and NOESY spectra. For (1) and (4), single-crystal X-ray diffraction studies were also carried out. Complexes (2)–(4) show good inhibiting abilities on three human cancer cell lines, i.e. KB, Hep-G2 and LU, with IC50 values of 1.42–17.8 µM. Complex (3) gives an impressively high activity against KB, Hep-G2, LU and MCF-7, with IC50 values of 1.42–4.91 µM, which are much lower than those of cisplatin and some other platinum(II) complexes.

Research progress in modern structure of platinum complexes

Since the antitumor activity of cisplatin was discovered in 1967 by Rosenberg, platinum-based anticancer drugs have played an important role in chemotherapy in clinic. Nevertheless, platinum anticancer drugs also have caused severe side effects and cross drug resistance which limited their applications. Therefore, a significant amount of efforts have been devoted to developing new platinum-based anticancer agents with equal or higher antitumor activity but lower toxicity. Until now, a large number of platinum-based complexes have been prepared and extensively investigated in vitro and in vivo. Among them, some platinum-based complexes revealing excellent anticancer activity showed the potential to be developed as novel type of anticancer agents. In this account, we present such platinum-based anticancer complexes which owning various types of ligands, such as, amine carrier ligands, leaving groups, reactive molecule, steric hindrance groups, non-covalently binding platinum (II) complexes, Platinum(IV) complexes and polynuclear platinum complexes. Overall, platinum-based anticancer complexes reported recently years upon modern structure are emphasized.

Platinum(IV) complexes conjugated with phenstatin analogue as inhibitors of microtubule polymerization and reverser of multidrug resistance

Pt(IV) complexes comprising a phenstatin analogue, as dual-targeting Pt(IV) prodrug, were designed and synthesized. They were found not only to carry the DNA binding platinum warhead into the tumor cells, but also to have a small molecular unit to inhibit tubulin polymerization. In vitro evaluation results revealed that Pt(IV) complexes showed better and more potent activity against the test human cancer cells including cisplatin resistant cell lines than their corresponding Pt(II) counterparts. In addition, the Pt(IV) derivative of cisplatin, complex 10, exhibited highly selective inhibition in human cancer cells and displayed no obvious toxicity to two human normal cell lines, respectively. Mechanism study suggested that complex 10 induced cell-cycle arrest at the G2/M phase and caused apoptotic cell death of human lung cancer NCI-H460 cells through the mitochondrial mediated pathway. Moreover, complex 10 effectively inhibited the tumor growth in the NCI-H460 xenograft model.

Nitric Oxide Donor-Based Cancer Therapy: Advances and Prospects

The increasing understanding of the role of nitric oxide (NO) in cancer biology has generated significant progress in the use of NO donor-based therapy to fight cancer. These advances strongly suggest the potential adoption of NO donor-based therapy in clinical practice, and this has been supported by several clinical studies in the past decade. In this review, we first highlight several types of important NO donors, including recently developed NO donors bearing a dinitroazetidine skeleton, represented by RRx-001, with potential utility in cancer therapy. Special emphasis is then given to the combination of NO donor(s) with other therapies to achieve synergy and to the hybridization of NO donor(s) with an anticancer drug/agent/fragment to enhance the activity or specificity or to reduce toxicity. In addition, we briefly describe inducible NO synthase gene therapy and nanotechnology, which have recently entered the field of NO donor therapy.