Tissue regeneration promotion effects of phenanthroimidazole derivatives through pro-inflammatory pathway activation

Newly synthesized phenanthroimidazole derivatives L082 as a safe anti-tumor and anti-injury inflammation bifunctional compound

Chemotherapy drugs exerts beneficial antitumor activity before and after cancer surgery. Post-injury complications are a potential hazard after surgical tumor resection. Inflammation caused by surgical stress is known to promote the progression of post-injury complications. Recent studies have found that chemotherapy drugs can promote post-injury inflammatory response, leading to increased post-injury complications. Imidazole derivatives have effective anticancer activity. However, the impact of post-operative inflammation caused by imidazole derivatives is unclear. In this study, two novel phenanthroimidazole derivatives (L082 and L142) were synthesized and characterized. These compounds showed significant inhibitory effects on different tumor cells. The compound L082 also inhibited liver cancer in vivo. In addition, L082 played a significant role in inhibiting the accumulation of inflammatory cells and promoting the elimination of inflammatory cells at the incision, which may be related to inhibiting the production of ROS and NO in oxidative and nitric stress. These results suggest that L082 can be used as a bifunctional drug to suppress tumors and reduce post-injury inflammation complications.

Nucleus-enriched Ruthenium Polypyridine Complex Acts as a Potent Inhibitor to Suppress Triple-negative Breast Cancer Metastasis In vivo

Polypyridine Ru(II) complexes have long been deemed to excellent antitumor agents that inhibit the proliferation of breast cancer cells. Nevertheless, their effects on the metastatic potency of breast cancer cells need further research. Herein, a class of polypyridine Ru(II) complexes coordinated with phenazine derivates (DPPZ) ([Ru(bpy)₂(DPPZ-R)](ClO₄)₂, Ru(bpy)₂DPPZ: R = -H, Ru(bpy)₂BrDPPZ: R = -Br, Ru(bpy)₂MDPPZ: R = -CH₃, Ru(bpy)2BnDPPZ: R = −acene, Ru(bpy)₂BEDPPZ: R = -C ≡ C(C₆H₅)) was synthesized by introducing different substituent groups to regulate the electron cloud density and planarity of the main ligands. Results indicated that this class of DPPZ-based Ru(II) complexes exhibited promising inhibitory effect against MDA-MB-231 triple-negative breast cancer cells, especially for Ru(bpy)₂BEDPPZ, which is comparable with that of cisplatin. In addition, Ru(bpy)₂BEDPPZ effectively inhibited the migration and invasion of MDA-MB-231 cells in vitro and suppressed focal adhesion and stress fiber formation. Moreover, it effectively blocked MDA-MB-231 cell metastasis in blood vessels and restrained angiogenesis formation in a zebrafish xenograft breast cancer model. Further studies showed that the mechanisms may involve DNA damage-mediated apoptosis probably due to Ru(bpy)₂BEDPPZ, which was enriched in the cell nucleus and induced DNA damage. All these results suggested that the DPPZ-based Ru(II) complexes can act as potent anti-metastasis agents.