Seleno-l-methionine and l-ascorbic acid differentiate the biological activity of doxorubicin and its metal complexes as a new anticancer drugs candidate

J Trace Elem Med Biol. 2018 Jul:48:141-148. doi: 10.1016/j.jtemb.2018.03.021. Epub 2018 Mar 26.

Abstract

The most important problems of anti-cancer therapy include the toxicity of the drugs applied to healthy cells and the multi-drug cells resistance to chemotherapeutics. One of the most commonly used anticancer drugs is doxorubicin (DOX) used to treat certain leukemias and non-Hodgkin's lymphomas, as well as bladder, breast, stomach, lung, ovarian, thyroid, multiple myeloma and other cancers. Preliminary studies showed that metal complex with DOX improve its cytostatic activity with changes in their molecular structure and distribution of electrons, resulting in a substantial change of its biological activity (including antitumor activity). Thus, there is a chance to receiving derivatives of DOX with low toxicity for the healthy body cells, thus increasing its therapeutic selectivity. In the present study we examined the influence of Mn, Mg, Fe, Co and Ni, seleno-l-methionine and vitamin C on biological activity of DOX in prokaryotic model - Escherichia coli RFM443, with plasmid transcriptional fusion of recA promoter and luxCDABE as a reporter gene. Cytotoxic potency of tested chemicals was calculated on the basis of the bacteria culture growth inhibition (GI%) values. Genotoxic properties were calculated on the basis of the fold increase (FI) of relative luminescence units (RLU) values compared to control. Obtained results showed that doxorubicin metal complexes particularly with Ni, Co and Fe increased the cyto- and genotoxic activities of DOX. Bacteria culture supplemented with SeMet and vitamin C differentiate the DOX and its metal complexes toxicity. It seems, that DOX-Ni, DOX-Fe and DOX-Co complexes could be potent cytostatic drug candidates. Moreover, we noticed different sensitivity of recA::luxCDABE for 3 h and 24 h cultures of bacteria strain. It suggests, that the potency of genetic construct reactivity- recA::luxCDABE in E. coli depends on the growth-phase of bacterial culture.

Keywords: Cancer; Cytotoxicity; Doxorubicin; Genotoxicity; Metal complexes; Seleno-l-methionine; Vitamin C.

MeSH terms

  • Anti-Bacterial Agents / chemistry
  • Anti-Bacterial Agents / pharmacology*
  • Antineoplastic Agents / chemistry
  • Antineoplastic Agents / pharmacology*
  • Ascorbic Acid / chemistry
  • Ascorbic Acid / pharmacology*
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Cell Proliferation / drug effects
  • Doxorubicin / chemistry
  • Doxorubicin / pharmacology*
  • Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor
  • Escherichia coli / drug effects*
  • Escherichia coli / growth & development
  • Humans
  • Microbial Sensitivity Tests
  • Organometallic Compounds / chemistry
  • Organometallic Compounds / pharmacology*
  • Selenomethionine / chemistry
  • Selenomethionine / pharmacology*

Substances

  • Anti-Bacterial Agents
  • Antineoplastic Agents
  • Organometallic Compounds
  • Doxorubicin
  • Selenomethionine
  • Ascorbic Acid