Cytotoxicity, Pro-apoptotic Activity and in silico Studies of Dithiocarbamates and their Structure Based Design and...

Area of Science:

• Medicinal Chemistry
• Drug Discovery
• Cancer Research

Background:

• Cancer remains a significant global health challenge, necessitating the development of effective and affordable treatments.
• Existing anticancer drugs are often costly and limited in availability, driving research into novel therapeutic agents.

Purpose of the Study:

• To synthesize and characterize a new series of dithiocarbamate derivatives.
• To evaluate the anticancer activity of these novel compounds against cancer cell lines.

Main Methods:

• Compounds were synthesized in a single step using secondary amines and substituted benzyl chlorides.
• Structures were confirmed using spectroscopic techniques including IR, NMR, and HR-MS.
• Anticancer activity was assessed via cell proliferation assays, flow cytometry, and molecular docking.

Main Results:

• The synthesized dithiocarbamates exhibited significant anti-proliferative effects on HeLa cancer cells.
• Compound SHD-2 displayed maximum inhibitory activity with an IC50 of 0.31 ± 0.09 μM and minimal toxicity to normal BHK-21 cells.
• Flow cytometry revealed that SHD-2 induces cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in HeLa cells, suggesting a mechanism for its cytotoxicity.

Conclusions:

• The potent dithiocarbamate derivative SHD-2 shows promising cytotoxic and pro-apoptotic potential.
• Further preclinical studies in animal models are recommended to explore the anticancer efficacy of these compounds.