Cytotoxic activity of copper(ii), nickel(ii) and platinum(ii) thiosemicarbazone derivatives: interaction with DNA and the H2A histone peptide

Synthesis, cytotoxicities, structural properties and comparison of dihalogeno-substituted-thiosemicarbazone ligands and mixed-ligand Ni(II) complexes

Three novel mixed-ligand Ni(ıı) complexes were synthesized from a 3,5-dihalogenosalicylaldehyde-S-methyl isothiosemicarbazone ligand (3,5-dichloro for Complex I, 3,5-dibromo for Complex II, and 3,5-diiodo for Complex III) and diethanolamine. The synthesized compounds were characterized by elemental analysis, FT-IR, UV-Vis and 1H-NMR spectroscopy. Solid-state structures of Complex I and Complex II were determined by the single-crystal X-ray diffraction technique. Both the complexes were found to have a distorted square planar geometry, with coordination of azomethine nitrogen, phenolate oxygen, terminal amine of the thiosemicarbazone ligand and amine nitrogen of diethanolamine. The cytotoxic effects of the ligands and the complexes were evaluated against two different types of cancer cells (THP-1 human leukaemia monocytic cell line and MDA-MB-231 aggressive breast cancer cell line) and healthy cells (HUVEC human umbilical vein endothelial cell line) by using the MTT method. The findings demonstrated that the chloro-derivatives exhibited better efficacy compared to cisplatin in targeting the monocytic leukemia cell line while displaying reduced toxicity towards healthy cells.

Modulation of Transcription Profile Induced by Antiproliferative Thiosemicarbazone Metal Complexes in U937 Cancer Cells

Since the discovery of cisplatin, the search for metal-based compounds with therapeutic potential has been a challenge for the scientific community. In this landscape, thiosemicarbazones and their metal derivatives represent a good starting point for the development of anticancer agents with high selectivity and low toxicity. Here, we focused on the action mechanism of three metal thiosemicarbazones [Ni(tcitr)₂], [Pt(tcitr)₂], and [Cu(tcitr)₂], derived from citronellal. The complexes were already synthesized, characterized, and screened for their antiproliferative activity against different cancer cells and for genotoxic/mutagenic potential. In this work, we deepened the understanding of their molecular action mechanism using an in vitro model of a leukemia cell line (U937) and an approach of transcriptional expression profile analysis. U937 cells showed a significant sensitivity to the tested molecules. To better understand DNA damage induced by our complexes, the modulation of a panel of genes involved in the DNA damage response pathway was evaluated. We analyzed whether our compounds affected cell cycle progression to determine a possible correlation between proliferation inhibition and cell cycle arrest. Our results demonstrate that metal complexes target different cellular processes and could be promising candidates in the design of antiproliferative thiosemicarbazones, although their overall molecular mechanism is still to be understood.

Antiproliferative Activity and DNA Interaction Studies of a Series of N4,N4-Dimethylated Thiosemicarbazone Derivatives

The exploitation of bioactive natural sources to obtain new anticancer agents with novel modes of action may represent an innovative and successful strategy in the field of medicinal chemistry. Many natural products and their chemical analogues have been proposed as starting molecules to synthesise compounds with increased biological potential. In this work, the design, synthesis, and characterisation of a new series of N4,N4-dimethylated thiosemicarbazone Cu(II), Ni(II), and Pt(II) complexes are reported and investigated for their in vitro toxicological profile against a leukaemia cell line (U937). The antiproliferative activity was studied by MTS assay to determine the GI50 value for each compound after 24 h of treatment, while the genotoxic potential was investigated to determine if the complexes could cause DNA damage. In addition, the interaction between the synthesised molecules and DNA was explored by means of spectroscopic techniques, showing that for Pt and Ni derivatives a single mode of action can be postulated, while the Cu analogue behaves differently.

Serum copper concentration reflect inflammatory activation in the complex coronary artery disease - A pilot study

INTRODUCTION

Coronary artery disease possess inflammatory background related to enzymatic processes with trace elements involvements as co-factors. The aim of the study was to compare serum, urine and salivary copper, magnesium, calcium and zinc levels with inflammatory indices obtained from the whole blood count in patients with complex coronary artery disease.

MATERIAL AND METHOD

Fifty-two (42(81 %) males, 10 (19 %) females) consecutive patients (mean (SD) age 68 (9) years with symptomatic complex coronary artery disease were enrolled into prospective single center study in 2021. Serum, saliva and urine samples were collected at the day of admission for trace elements concentration (copper, zinc, magnesium, calcium) and compared with inflammatory indexes obtained from preoperative and perioperative period.

RESULTS

Multivariable regression analysis revealed relation between the copper serum concentration and neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and systemic inflammatory index (SII).

CONCLUSION

Serum copper concentration interplay with preoperative inflammatory activation in complex coronary disease measured by NLR and SII. The copper serum concentration possesses the strongest relation to preoperative inflammatory activation in patients reffered for off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting.

Advances in thiosemicarbazone metal complexes as anti-lung cancer agents

The great success of cisplatin as a chemotherapeutic agent considerably increased research efforts in inorganic biochemistry to identify more metallic drugs having the potential of treating lung cancer. Metal coordination centres, which exhibit a wide range of coordination numbers and geometries, various oxidised and reduced states and the inherent ligand properties offer pharmaceutical chemists a plethora of drug structures. Owing to the presence of C=N and C=S bonds in a thiosemicarbazone Schiff base, N and S atoms in its hybrid orbital has lone pair of electrons, which can generate metal complexes with different stabilities with most metal elements under certain conditions. Such ligands and complexes play key roles in the treatment of anti-lung cancer. Research regarding metallic anti-lung cancer has advanced considerably, but there remain several challenges. In this review, we discuss the potential of thiosemicarbazone Schiff base complexes as anti-lung cancer drugs, their anti-cancer activities and the most likely action mechanisms involving the recent families of copper, nickel, platinum, ruthenium and other complexes.

A new class of nickel(II) oxyquinoline-bipyridine complexes as potent anticancer agents induces apoptosis and autophagy in A549/DDP tumor cells through mitophagy pathways

A new class of nickel(II) oxyquinoline-bipyridine complexes, namely, [Ni(La1)2(Lb6)] (Ni1), [Ni(La1)2(Lb2)] CH3OH (Ni2), [Ni(La7)2(Lb11)]2H2O (Ni3), [Ni(La1)2(Lb9)] (Ni4), [Ni(La1)2(Lb8)] (Ni5), [Ni(La2)2(Lb1)] (Ni6), [Ni(La2)2(Lb6)]CH3OH (Ni7), [Ni(La2)2(Lb11)]CH3OH (Ni8), [Ni(La2)2(Lb3)] (Ni9), [Ni(La2)2(Lb2)]CH3OH (Ni10), [Ni(La2)2(Lb5)]CH3OH...

Synthesis, In Silico Study, and Anti-Cancer Activity of Thiosemicarbazone Derivatives

Thiosemicarbazones are known for their biological and pharmacological activities. In this study, we have synthesized and characterized 3-Methoxybenzaldehyde thiosemicarbazone (3-MBTSc) and 4-Nitrobenzaldehyde thiosemicarbazone (4-NBTSc) using IR, ¹HNMR and ¹³C NMR. The compound’s in vitro anticancer activities against different cell lines were evaluated. Molecular docking, Insilco ADMET, and drug-likeness prediction were also done. The test compounds showed a comparative IC₅₀ and growth inhibition with the standard drug Doxorubicin. The IC₅₀ ranges from 2.82 µg/mL to 14.25 µg/mL in 3-MBTSc and 2.80 µg/mL to 7.59 µg/mL in 4-NBTSc treated cells. The MTT assay result revealed, 3-MBTSc inhibits 50.42 and 50.31 percent of cell growth in B16-F0 and EAC cell lines, respectively. The gene expression showed that tumor suppressor genes such as PTEN and BRCA1 are significantly upregulated in 7.42 and 5.33 folds, and oncogenes, PKC, and RAS are downregulated −7.96 and −7.64 folds, respectively in treated cells. The molecular docking performed on the four targeted proteins (PARP, VEGFR-1, TGF-β1, and BRAF^V600E) indicated that both 4-NBTSc and 3-MBTSc potentially bind to TGF-β1 with the best binding energy of −42.34 Kcal/mol and −32.13 Kcal/mol, respectively. In addition, the test compound possesses desirable ADMET and drug-likeness properties. Overall, both 3-MBTSc and 4-NBTSc have the potential to be multitargeting drug candidates for further study. Moreover, 3-MBTSc showed better activity than 4-NBTSc.

Molecular docking, synthesis and anticancer activity of thiosemicarbazone derivatives against MCF-7 human breast cancer cell line

BACKGROUND

The aim of this study was to synthesize and evaluate anticancer activity of 2-hydroxy benzaldehyde and 4-hydroxy benzaldehyde thiosemicarbazone (2-HBTSc and 4-HBTSc) against MCF-7 breast cancer cell line.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The ligands were prepared and characterized by UV vis, IR and NMR. MTT assay was used to assess viability of cells. RNA isolation, extraction and cDNA synthesis were done. Then all groups were subjected to RT-qPCR using Gene expression specific primers. Also, western blot protein expression and molecular docking were done. Two-way ANOVA with Tukey post-hoc test was employed to test the significance using GraphPad Prism.

RESULTS

The IC₅₀ values were 3.36μg/ml and 3.60μg/ml for 2-HBTSc and 4-HBTSc treated MCF-7 tumor cells respectively. Tumor cell growth inhibition ranged from 38 to 49.27% in 4-HBTSc treated cells, and 19 to 25% in 2-HBTSc treated cells with increase in doses 5 μg/ml to 20 μg/ml. The protein and gene expression result showed a significant upregulation in tumor suppressor and apoptosis inducing genes while, oncogene activity was significantly downregulated. Specifically, BRCA2 and pRB gene showed the highest expression in 4-HBTSc and 2-HBTSc treated cells respectively. Conversely, RAS oncogene was downregulated significantly. Docking result showed that both 2-HBTSc and 4-HBTSc have the potential to inhibit Estrogen Receptor Alpha Ligand Binding Domain, Human 17-Beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 mutant protein and Human Topoisomerase II alpha that are expressed more during Breast Cancer.

CONCLUSION

The findings of this study imply that the test compound has potential for further study.

A New Photoactivatable Ruthenium(II) Complex with an Asymmetric Bis-Thiocarbohydrazone: Chemical and Biological Investigations

The synthesis, photoactivation and biological activity of a new piano-stool Ru(II) complex is herein reported. The peculiarity of this complex is that its monodentate ligand which undergoes the photodissociation is an asymmetric bis-thiocarbohydrazone ligand that possesses a pyridine moiety binding to Ru(II) and the other moiety contains a quinoline that endows the ligand with the capacity of chelating other metal ions. In this way, upon dissociation, the ligand can be released in the form of a metal complex. In this article, the double ability of this new Ru(II) complex to photorelease the ligand and to chelate copper and nickel is explored and confirmed. The biological activity of this compound is studied in cell line A549 revealing that, after irradiation, proliferation inhibition is reached at very low half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC₅₀) values. Further, biological assays reveal that the dinuclear complex containing Ni is internalized in cells.

Nickel carcinogenesis mechanism: cell cycle dysregulation

Nickel (Ni) is a widely distributed metal in the environment and an important pollutant due to its widespread industrial applications. Ni has various toxicity in humans and experimental animals, including carcinogenicity. However, the carcinogenic effects of Ni remain troublesome. Cell cycle dysregulation may be an important carcinogenic mechanism and is also a potential molecular mechanism for Ni complexes anti-cancerous effects. Therefore, we conducted a literature review to summarize the effects of Ni on cell cycle. Up to now, there were three different reports on Ni-induced cell cycle arrest: (i) Ni can induce cell cycle arrest in G0/G1 phase, phosphorylation and degradation of IkappaB kinase-alpha (IKKα)-dependent cyclin D1 and phosphoinositide-3-kinase (PI3K)/serine-threonine kinase (Akt) pathway-mediated down-regulation of expressions of cyclin-dependent kinases 4 (CDK4) play important role in it; (ii) Ni can induce cell cycle arrest in S phase, but the molecular mechanism is not known; (iii) G2/M phase is the target of Ni toxicity, and Ni compounds cause G2/M cell cycle phase arrest by reducing cyclinB1/Cdc2 interaction through the activation of the ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM)-p53-p21 and ATM-checkpoint kinase inhibitor 1 (Chk1)/Chk2-cell division cycle 25 (Cdc25) pathways. Revealing the mechanisms of cell cycle dysregulation associated with Ni exposure may help in the prevention and treatment of Ni-related carcinogenicity and toxicology.

Mitochondria-localizing curcumin-cryptolepine Zn(II) complexes and their antitumor activity

Many metal complexes are potent candidates as mitochondrial-targeting agents. In this study, four novel Zn(II) complexes, [Zn(BPQA)Cl₂] (Zn1), [Zn(BPQA)(Curc)]Cl (Zn2), [Zn(PQA)Cl₂] (Zn3), and [Zn(PQA)(Curc)]Cl (Zn4), containing N,N-bis(pyridin-2-ylmethyl)benzofuro[3,2-b]quinolin-11-amine (BPQA), N-(pyridin-2-ylmethyl)benzofuro[3,2-b]quinolin-11-amine (PQA), and curcumin (H-Curc) were synthesized. An MTT assay showed that Zn1-Zn4 had strong anticancer activities against SK-OV-3/DDP and T-24 tumor cells with IC₅₀ values of 0.03-6.19 μM. Importantly, Zn1 and Zn2 displayed low toxicities against normal HL-7702 cells. Mechanism experiments demonstrated that probe Zn2 showed appreciable fluorescence in the red region of the spectrum, and substantial accumulation of Zn2 occurred in the mitochondria after treatment, indicating increases in Ca²⁺ and reactive oxygen species levels, loss of the mitochondrial membrane potential, and consequent induction of mitochondrial dysfunction at low concentrations. In addition, the probe Zn2 effectively (50.7%) inhibited the growth of T-24 bladder tumor cells in vivo. The probe Zn2 shows potential for use in cancer therapy while retaining the H-Curc as an imaging probe.

Mechanistic insights on the mode of action of an antiproliferative thiosemicarbazone-nickel complex revealed by an integrated chemogenomic profiling study

Thiosemicarbazones (TSC) and their metal complexes display diverse biological activities and are active against multiple pathological conditions ranging from microbial infections to abnormal cell proliferation. Ribonucleotide reductase (RNR) is considered one of the main targets of TSCs, yet, the existence of additional targets, differently responsible for the multifaceted activities of TSCs and their metal complexes has been proposed. To set the basis for a more comprehensive delineation of their mode of action, we chemogenomically profiled the cellular effects of bis(citronellalthiosemicarbazonato)nickel(II) [Ni(S-tcitr)₂] using the unicellular eukaryote Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a model organism. Two complementary genomic phenotyping screens led to the identification of 269 sensitive and 56 tolerant deletion mutant strains and of 14 genes that when overexpressed make yeast cells resistant to an otherwise lethal concentration of Ni(S-tcitr)₂. Chromatin remodeling, cytoskeleton organization, mitochondrial function and iron metabolism were identified as lead cellular processes responsible for Ni(S-tcitr)₂ toxicity. The latter process, and particularly glutaredoxin-mediated iron loading of RNR, was found to be affected by Ni(S-tcitr)₂. Given the multiple pathways regulated by glutaredoxins, targeting of these proteins by Ni(S-tcitr)₂ can negatively affect various core cellular processes that may critically contribute to Ni(S-tcitr)₂ cytotoxicity.

Guedes da Silva MF, Marzano C. Synthesis, Characterization and Biological Activity of Novel Cu(II) Complexes of 6-Methyl-2-Oxo-1,2-Dihydroquinoline-3-Carbaldehyde-4n-Substituted Thiosemicarbazones

Three new 6-methyl-2-oxo-1,2-dihydroquinoline-3-carbaldehyde-thiosemicarbazones-N-4-substituted pro-ligands and their Cu(II) complexes (1, -NH2; 2, -NHMe; 3, -NHEt) have been prepared and characterized. In both the X-ray structures of 1 and 3, two crystallographically independent complex molecules were found that differ either in the nature of weakly metal-binding species (water in 1a and nitrate in 1b) or in the co-ligand (water in 3a and methanol in 3b). Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) measurements carried out on complexes 1 and 3 confirmed the presence of such different species in the solution. The electrochemical behavior of the pro-ligands and of the complexes was investigated, as well as their biological activity. Complexes 2 and 3 exhibited a high cytotoxicity against human tumor cells and 3D spheroids derived from solid tumors, related to the high cellular uptake. Complexes 2 and 3 also showed a high selectivity towards cancerous cell lines with respect to non-cancerous cell lines and were able to circumvent cisplatin resistance. Via the Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) imaging technique, preliminary insights into the biological activity of copper complexes were obtained.