Leveraging the versatile redox behavior of transition metal complexes with heterocyclic ligands offers significant potential for discovering new anticancer therapeutics. This study presents a systematic investigation of a pyridinecarboxaldimine ligand (PyIm) with late 3d-transition metals inhibiting cancer cell proliferation and the mechanism of action. Synthesis and thorough characterization of authentic metal complexes of redox-active late 3d-transition metals enabled the validation of antiproliferative activity in liver cancer cells. Notably, (PyIm)2Mn(II) (1) and (PyIm)2Cu(II) (5) complexes exhibited a good inhibitory profile against liver cancer cells (EC50: 4.0 μM for 1 and 1.7 μM for 5) with excellent selectivity over normal kidney cells (Selectivity index, SI = 17 for 5). Subsequently, evaluation of these complexes in cancers cell lines from four different sites of origin (liver, breast, blood, and bone) demonstrated a predominant selectivity to liver and a moderate selectivity to breast cancer and leukemia cells over the normal kidney cells. The mechanism of action studies highlighted no expected DNA damage in cells, rather, the enhancement of extracellular and intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) resulting in mitochondrial damage leading to oxidative cell death in cancer cells. Notably, these complexes potentiated the antiproliferative effect of commercially used cancer therapeutics (cisplatin, oxaliplatin, doxorubicin, and dasatinib) in liver cancer cells. These findings position redox-active metal complexes for further evaluation as promising candidates for developing anticancer therapeutics and combination therapies.
Keywords: 3d-complexes; Pyridine imine ligand; antiproliferative agents; combination therapy; oxidative stress.