De Grandis Rone A, Oliveira Katia M, Guedes Adriana P M, Dos Santos Patrick W S, Aissa Alexandre F, Batista Alzir A, Pavan Fernando R
School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, São Paulo State University, Araraquara, Brazil.
School of Medicine, University of Araraquara, Araraquara, Brazil.
Front Oncol. 2021 Jun 24;11:682968. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2021.682968. eCollection 2021.
Lapachol is a well-studied natural product that has been receiving great interest due to its anticancer properties that target oxidative stress. In the present work, two novel lapachol-containing ruthenium(II) complexes [Ru(Lap)(dppm)(bipy)]PF () and [Ru(Lap)(dppm)(phen)]PF () [Lap = lapachol, dppm = 1,1'-bis(diphosphino)methane, bipy = 2,2'-bipyridine, phen = 1,10-phenantroline] were synthesized, fully characterized, and investigated for their cellular and molecular responses on cancer cell lines. We found that both complexes exhibited a potent cytotoxic effect in a panel of cancer cell lines in monolayer cultures, as well as in a 3D model of multicellular spheroids formed from DU-145 human prostate adenocarcinoma cells. Furthermore, the complex () suppressed the colony formation, induced G2/M-phase arrest, and downregulated Aurora-B. The mechanism studies suggest that complex () stimulate the overproduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and triggers caspase-dependent apoptosis as a result of changes in expression of several genes related to cell proliferation and caspase-3 and -9 activation. Interestingly, we found that N-acetyl-L-cysteine, a ROS scavenger, suppressed the generation of intracellular ROS induced by complex (), and decreased its cytotoxicity, indicating that ROS-mediated DNA damage leads the DU-145 cells into apoptosis. Overall, we highlighted that coordination of lapachol to phosphinic ruthenium(II) compounds considerably improves the antiproliferative activities of resulting complexes granting attractive selectivity to human prostate adenocarcinoma cells. The DNA damage response to ROS seems to be involved in the induction of caspase-mediated cell death that plays an important role in the complexes' cytotoxicity. Upon further investigations, this novel class of lapachol-containing ruthenium(II) complexes might indicate promising chemotherapeutic agents for prostate cancer therapy.
拉帕醇是一种经过充分研究的天然产物,因其针对氧化应激的抗癌特性而备受关注。在本研究中,合成了两种新型含拉帕醇的钌(II)配合物[Ru(Lap)(dppm)(bipy)]PF()和[Ru(Lap)(dppm)(phen)]PF()[Lap = 拉帕醇,dppm = 1,1'-双(二膦基)甲烷,bipy = 2,2'-联吡啶,phen = 1,10-菲咯啉],对其进行了全面表征,并研究了它们对癌细胞系的细胞和分子反应。我们发现,这两种配合物在单层培养的一组癌细胞系以及由DU-145人前列腺腺癌细胞形成的多细胞球体的3D模型中均表现出强大的细胞毒性作用。此外,配合物()抑制了集落形成,诱导了G2/M期阻滞,并下调了Aurora-B。机制研究表明,配合物()刺激活性氧(ROS)的过量产生,并由于与细胞增殖以及caspase-3和-9激活相关的几个基因表达的变化而触发caspase依赖性凋亡。有趣的是,我们发现ROS清除剂N-乙酰-L-半胱氨酸抑制了配合物()诱导的细胞内ROS的产生,并降低了其细胞毒性,表明ROS介导的DNA损伤导致DU-145细胞凋亡。总体而言,我们强调拉帕醇与次膦酸钌(II)化合物的配位显著提高了所得配合物的抗增殖活性,赋予了对人前列腺腺癌细胞有吸引力的选择性。对ROS的DNA损伤反应似乎参与了caspase介导的细胞死亡的诱导,这在配合物的细胞毒性中起重要作用。经过进一步研究,这类新型的含拉帕醇的钌(II)配合物可能是用于前列腺癌治疗的有前景的化疗药物。