Effects on estrogen-dependent and triple negative breast cancer cells growth of Ni(II), Zn(II) and Cd(II) complexes with the Schiff base derived from pyridine-2-carboxaldehyde and 5,6-diamino-1,3-dimethyluracil explored through the renin-angiotensin system (RAS)-regulating aminopeptidases.

A series of Ni(II), Zn(II) and Cd(II) complexes with the Schiff base derived from the condensation 1:1 from pyridine-2-carboxaldehyde and 5,6-diamino-1,3-dimethyluracil (6-amino-1,3-dimethyl-5-[(pyridin-2-ylmethylidene)-amino]pyrimidine-2,4(1H,3H)-dione, DAAUPic) were synthesized and subsequently characterized by means of elemental analysis, FT-IR, NMR and nine of them by X-ray diffraction. Except the [Zn(μ-O,O'-AcO)(N,N,N-DAAUPicH)] and [Cd(O,O'-NO)(μ-O,(N,N,N)-DAAUPicH)(HO)]·2HO dimers and the [Cd(μ-S,N-SCN)(N,N,N-DAAUPicH)] chain-like polymer, all of them display monomeric molecular structures. The anticancer activity of compounds was also explored studying their effects on renin-angiotensin system (RAS)-regulating aminopeptidases on estrogen-dependent and triple negative breast cancer cell lines. At the concentrations used, some of the complexes showed different effects on (RAS) peptidases, which support the idea that their effects on cell growth/proliferation could be related to autocrine/paracrine regulatory functions of their corresponding peptide substrates.