Synthesis of a series of novel In(III) 2,6-diacetylpyridine bis(thiosemicarbazide) complexes: structure, anticancer function and mechanism

Dalton Trans. 2020 Dec 15;49(47):17207-17220. doi: 10.1039/d0dt02266g.

Abstract

The anticancer function and anticancer mechanism of indium (In) complexes still remain mysterious to date. Furthermore, it is greatly challenging to design a multi-functional metal agent that not only kills cancer cells but also inhibits their invasion and metastasis. Thus, to develop novel next-generation anticancer metal agents, we designed and synthesized a series of novel In(iii) 2,6-diacetylpyridine bis(thiosemicarbazide) complexes (C1-C4) for the first time and then investigated their structure-activity relationships with human urinary bladder cancer (T-24) cells. In particular, C4 not only showed higher cytotoxicity to cancer cells and less toxicity toward normal cells relative to cisplatin but also inhibited cell invasion and metastasis of T-24 cells. Interestingly, C4 acted against T-24 cells exhibiting multiple mechanisms: (1) arresting the S-phase of cell cycle via regulation of cytokine kinases, (2) activating the mitochondrial-mediated apoptosis, endoplasmic reticulum-stress-mediated cell death, PERK and c-Jun N-terminal kinase 1 (JNK) cell signaling pathways, and (3) inhibiting the expression of telomerase via the regulation of c-myc and h-TERT proteins. Our results suggested that C4 may be developed as a potential multi-functional and multi-targeting anticancer candidate.

MeSH terms

  • Antineoplastic Agents / chemical synthesis
  • Antineoplastic Agents / chemistry
  • Antineoplastic Agents / pharmacology*
  • Apoptosis / drug effects
  • Cell Line
  • Cell Proliferation / drug effects
  • Cell Survival / drug effects
  • Coordination Complexes / chemical synthesis
  • Coordination Complexes / chemistry
  • Coordination Complexes / pharmacology*
  • Crystallography, X-Ray
  • Dose-Response Relationship, Drug
  • Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor
  • Humans
  • Indium / chemistry
  • Indium / pharmacology*
  • Models, Molecular
  • Molecular Structure
  • Structure-Activity Relationship
  • Thiosemicarbazones / chemistry
  • Thiosemicarbazones / pharmacology*

Substances

  • 2,6-diacetylpyridine bis((4)N-methylthiosemicarbazone)
  • Antineoplastic Agents
  • Coordination Complexes
  • Thiosemicarbazones
  • Indium