Novel metal complexes have received great attention in the last decades due to their potential anticancer activity. Notably, ruthenium-based complexes have emerged as good alternative to the currently Show more
Novel metal complexes have received great attention in the last decades due to their potential anticancer activity. Notably, ruthenium-based complexes have emerged as good alternative to the currently used platinum-based drugs for cancer therapy, providing less toxicity and side effects to patients. Glioblastoma is an aggressive and invasive type of brain tumor and despite of advances is the field of neurooncology there is no effective treatment until now. Therefore, we sought to investigate the potential antiproliferative activity of phosphine-ruthenium-based complexes on human glioblastoma cell lines. Due to its octahedral structure as opposed to the square-planar geometry of platinum(II) compounds, ruthenium(II) complexes exhibit different structure-function relationship probably acting through a different mechanism from that of cisplatin beyond their ability to bind DNA. To better improve the pharmacological activity of metal complexes we hypothesized that neutron activation of ruthenium in the complexes would allow to decrease the effective concentration of the compound needed to kill tumor cells. Herein we report on the effect of unmodified and neutron activated phosphine ruthenium II complexes on glioblastoma cell lines carrying wild-type and mutated p53 tumor suppressor gene. Induction of apoptosis/authophagy as well as generation of reactive oxygen species were determined. The phosphine ruthenium II complexes tested were highly active against glioblastoma cell lines inducing cell death both through apoptosis and autophagy in a p53 independent fashion. Neutron activation of ruthenium compounds rendered them more active than their original counterparts suggesting a new strategy to improve the antitumor activity of these compounds. Show less
The organoruthenium complex [(eta(6)-hmb)Ru(en)(Cl)][PF6] (hmb is hexamethylbenzene, en is ethylenediamine) undergoes facile aquation and then reacts with KSCN in unbuffered solution to give the S-coo Show more
The organoruthenium complex [(eta(6)-hmb)Ru(en)(Cl)][PF6] (hmb is hexamethylbenzene, en is ethylenediamine) undergoes facile aquation and then reacts with KSCN in unbuffered solution to give the S-coordinated thiocyanato product [(eta(6)-hmb)Ru(en)(S-SCN)]+ which slowly converts to the thermodynamically favored N-bound complex [(eta(6)-hmb)Ru(en)(N-NCS)]+ (1+). Complex 1 was synthesized and characterized by X-ray crystallography and mass spectrometry. Despite its lack of hydrolysis over 24 h, complex 1 exhibits moderate cytotoxicity (IC(50) 24 microM) towards the human ovarian cancer cell line A2780, comparable with that of the chlorido analogue which is thought to be activated (towards potential target DNA) via a rapid aquation (Wang et. al. in Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 102:18269-18274, 2005). Detailed kinetic studies suggest that complex 1 binds to guanosine 5'-monophosphate (GMP) through direct N7 substitution of the N-bound SCN ligand. In the presence of a high concentration of chloride (104 mM), however, complex 1 may bind partly to GMP via Cl substitution. Show less
The striking difference in cytotoxic activity between the inactive cis-[Ru(bpy)(2)Cl(2)] and the recently reported highly cytotoxic alpha-[Ru(azpy)(2)Cl(2)] (alpha indicating the isomer in which the c Show more
The striking difference in cytotoxic activity between the inactive cis-[Ru(bpy)(2)Cl(2)] and the recently reported highly cytotoxic alpha-[Ru(azpy)(2)Cl(2)] (alpha indicating the isomer in which the coordinating Cl atoms, pyridine nitrogens, and azo nitrogens are in mutual cis, trans, cis orientation) encouraged the synthesis of the mixed-ligand compound cis-[Ru(azpy)(bpy)Cl(2)]. The synthesis and characterization of the only occurring isomer, i.e., alpha-[Ru(azpy)(bpy)Cl(2)], 1 (alpha denoting the isomer in which the Cl ligands are cis related to each other and the pyridine ring of azpy is trans to the pyridine ring of bpy), are described. The solid-state structure of 1 has been determined by X-ray structure analysis. The IC(50) values obtained for several human tumor cell lines have indicated that compound 1 shows mostly a low to moderate cytotoxicity. The binding of the DNA model base 9-ethylguanine (9-EtGua) to the hydrolyzed species of 1 has been studied and compared to DNA model base binding studies of cis-[Ru(bpy)(2)Cl(2)] and alpha-[Ru(azpy)(2)Cl(2)]. The completely hydrolyzed species of 1, i.e., alpha-[Ru(azpy)(bpy)(H(2)O)(2)](2+), has been reacted with 9-EtGua in water at room temperature for 24 h. This resulted in the monofunctional binding of only one 9-EtGua, coordinated via the N7 atom. The product has been isolated as alpha-[Ru(azpy)(bpy)(9-EtGua)(H(2)O)](PF(6))(2), 2, and characterized by 2D NOESY NMR spectroscopy. The NOE data show that the 9-EtGua coordinates (under these conditions) at the position trans to the azo nitrogen atom. Surprisingly, time-dependent (1)H NMR data of the 9-EtGua adduct 2 in acetone-d(6) show an unprecedented positional shift of the 9-EtGua from the position trans to the azo nitrogen to the position trans to the bpy nitrogen atom, resulting in the adduct alpha'-[Ru(azpy)(bpy)(9-EtGua)(H(2)O)](PF(6))(2) (alpha' indicating 9-EtGua is trans to the bpy nitrogen). This positional isomerization of 9-EtGua is correlated to the cytotoxicity of 1 in comparison to both the cytotoxicity and 9-EtGua coordination of cis-[Ru(bpy)(2)Cl(2)], alpha-[Ru(azpy)(2)Cl(2)], and beta-[Ru(azpy)(2)Cl(2)]. This positional isomerization process is unprecedented in model base metal chemistry and could be of considerable biological significance. Show less