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Kimani S, Chakraborty S, Irene I, de la Mare J, Edkins A, du Toit A, Loos B, Blanckenberg A, Van Niekerk A, Costa-Lotufo LV, ArulJothi KN, Mapolie S, Prince S. The palladacycle, BTC2, exhibits anti-breast cancer and breast cancer stem cell activity. Biochem Pharmacol 2021; 190:114598. [PMID: 33979647 DOI: 10.1016/j.bcp.2021.114598] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/17/2021] [Revised: 05/01/2021] [Accepted: 05/06/2021] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
In women globally, breast cancer is responsible for most cancer-related deaths and thus, new effective therapeutic strategies are required to treat this malignancy. Platinum-based compounds like cisplatin are widely used to treat breast cancer, however, they come with limitations such as poor solubility, adverse effects, and drug resistance. To overcome these limitations, complexes containing other platinum group metals such as palladium have been studied and some have already entered clinical trials. Here we investigated the anti-cancer activity of a palladium complex, BTC2, in MCF-7 oestrogen receptor positive (ER+) and MDA-MB-231 triple negative (TN) human breast cancer cells as well as in a human breast cancer xenograft chick embryo model. BTC2 exhibited an average IC50 value of 0.54 μM, a desirable selectivity index of >2, inhibited the migration of ER+ and TN breast cancer cells, and displayed anti-cancer stem cell activity. We demonstrate that BTC2 induced DNA double strand breaks (increased levels of γ-H2AX) and activated the p-ATM/p-CHK2 and p-p38/MAPK pathways resulting in S- and G2/M-phase cell cycle arrests. Importantly, BTC2 sensitised breast cancer cells by triggering the intrinsic (cleaved caspase 9) and extrinsic (cleaved caspase 8) apoptotic as well as necroptotic (p-RIP3 and p-MLKL) cell death pathways and inhibiting autophagy and its pro-survival role. Furthermore, in the xenograft in vivo model, BTC2 displayed limited toxicity and arrested the tumour growth of breast cancer cells over a 9-day period in a manner comparable to that of the positive control drug, paclitaxel. BTC2 thus displayed promising anti-breast cancer activity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Serah Kimani
- Division of Cell Biology, Department of Human Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa
| | - Suparna Chakraborty
- Division of Cell Biology, Department of Human Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa
| | - Ikponmwosa Irene
- Division of Cell Biology, Department of Human Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa
| | - Jo de la Mare
- Biomedical Biotechnology Research Unit, Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Biotechnology, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa
| | - Adrienne Edkins
- Biomedical Biotechnology Research Unit, Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Biotechnology, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa
| | - André du Toit
- Department of Physiological Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, Western Cape, South Africa
| | - Ben Loos
- Department of Physiological Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, Western Cape, South Africa
| | - Angelique Blanckenberg
- Department of Chemistry and Polymer Science, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, Western Cape, South Africa
| | - Annick Van Niekerk
- Department of Chemistry and Polymer Science, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, Western Cape, South Africa
| | - Leticia V Costa-Lotufo
- Department of Pharmacology, Institute of Biomedical Science, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - K N ArulJothi
- Division of Cell Biology, Department of Human Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa; Department of Genetic Engineering, SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, India
| | - Selwyn Mapolie
- Department of Chemistry and Polymer Science, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, Western Cape, South Africa
| | - Sharon Prince
- Division of Cell Biology, Department of Human Biology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa.
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