Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters
Synthesis and anticancer activity of dichloroplatinum(II) complexes
of podophyllotoxin
e,
a,d,
Xuan Liu a, Lin-Lin Zhang a, Xiao-Hui Xu a, Lin Hui b,c, , Jin-Bang Zhang , Shi-Wu Chen
⇑
⇑
⇑
a School of Pharmacy, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
b Experimental Center of Medicine, General Hospital of Lanzhou Military Command, Lanzhou 730050, China
c Key Laboratory of Stem Cells and Gene Drug of Gansu Province, General Hospital of Lanzhou Military Command, Lanzhou 730050, China
d State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
e College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
a r t i c l e i n f o
a b s t r a c t
Article history:
A series of dichloroplatinum(II) complexes of podophyllotoxin (PPT) were prepared, and their cytotoxic-
ity against sensitive (A-549, HeLa, HCT-8, Hep-G2, K562) and resistant (ADM/K562) cell lines were eval-
Received 26 January 2013
Revised 23 April 2013
Accepted 30 April 2013
Available online 9 May 2013
uated. Complex cis-[4
displayed most potent cytotoxicity with IC50 value in the range 0.071–2.98
a
-O-(200,300-diaminopropanoyl)-podophyllotoxin] dichloride platinum(II) (12)
lM. Complex 12 induces cell
cycle arrest in the G2/M phase, and inhibits the formation of microtubules in HeLa cells. Furthermore, this
complex exhibits potent DNA cleavage capabilities.
Keywords:
Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Cisplatin
Podophyllotoxin
Microtubules inhibition
DNA cleavage
Anticancer drugs are rarely used singly to treat cancer, because
only a few tumours are sensitive enough to be cured by single
drugs. For a specific type of tumour, effective chemotherapy usu-
ally depends on suitable drugs combinations.1 Cisplatin is a widely
used chemotherapeutic agent for the treatment of testicular can-
cer, and it is used in combination regimens for a variety of other
tumors, including ovarian, cervical, bladder, lung, and those of
the head and neck.2 However, cisplatin has several shortcomings
that limit its application in clinic, such as toxicity (ototoxicity,
neurotoxicity, gastrointestinal toxicity, renal and hepatic toxicity),
low water-solubility, narrow spectrum of activity and intrinsic or
acquired resistance.3 Over the last 30 years, 23 other platinum-
based drugs have entered clinical trials with only two (carboplatin
and oxaliplatin) of these gaining international marketing approval,
and another three (nedaplatin, heptaplatin and lobaplatin) (Fig. 1)
gaining approval in individual nations.4 Although 40 years have
passed since the discovery of the anticancer activity of cisplatin,
its mechanism of action is unclear.5 Early investigations of the
mechanism of action of cisplatin, suggested that the distortions
in the DNA structure, caused by the covalent binding of cisplatin
to two adjacent guanines on the same strand of the nuclear DNA,
interfere with replication and trigger cellular events that lead to
the death of the cancer cell.6,7 Further study on non-DNA cellular
interactions of platinum drugs suggested that the mitochondria
might be the critical pharmacological target of cisplatin.8 Several
strategies have been used to increase tumor cell selectivity of plat-
inum drugs or to overcome one or more resistance mechanisms,
including their conjugation to potentially site-directing molecules,
such as folate, porphyrins, adenine, terpenoids, peptides and many
others.9
Podophyllotoxin (PPT, 1) has cathartic, antirheumatic, and anti-
viral properties.10 However, its antimitotic activity has proved to
be of the greatest interest to researchers.11 Because PPT is highly
toxic, it is not used as an anticancer drug itself, but several semi-
synthetic derivatives, including etoposide (VP-16, 2), teniposide
O
H2
N
O
O
O
O
O
O
H3N
H3N
O
O
H3N
H3N
Cl
Cl
H3N
H3N
Pt
Pt
Pt
Pt
N
O
H2
O
oxaliplatin
carboplatin
O
cisplatin
nedaplatin
O
O
O
O
NH2
O
NH2
Pt
Pt
O
N
N
H2
H2
O
O
heptaplatin
lobaplatin
⇑
Corresponding authors. Tel./fax: +86 931 8915686.
Figure 1. Structures of platinum-based anticancer drugs.
0960-894X/$ - see front matter Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.