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Updated: Jun 4, 2025

Synthesis and Evaluation of a Ruthenium-based Mitochondrial Calcium Uptake Inhibitor
Published on: October 26, 2017
Ruthenium(II)-mercapto complexes induce cell damage via apoptosis pathway on ovarian cancer cells
Marcos V Palmeira-Mello1, Tamara Teixeira1, Matheus Reis Santos de Melo2
1Departament of Chemistry, Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCar), 13561-905 São Carlos, SP, Brazil.
Abstract:
Ovarian cancer represents a leading cause of cancer-related deaths in women worldwide. Chemotherapeutic agents are usually employed to treat the patients, and Ruthenium(II)-based compounds have been investigated as possible substitutes for platinum drugs. In this work, we studied three different Ru(II)-phosphine-mercapto complexes (1-3) as potential cytotoxic agents against A2780 and A2780-cisR ovarian cancer cells. A time-dependent cytotoxicity was observed for 2, which also exhibited better selectivity than cisplatin control. A similar cytotoxic behavior was observed on 3D tumor spheroids. Although no changes were observed in cell cycle distribution, compound 2 affected the mitochondrial membrane potential on A2780 cells, and caused cell death via apoptotic pathway, which was confirmed by flow cytometry assay. Western blotting experiments revealed that 2 affected the expression of p53, PCNA, γH2AX and cleaved caspase-3, making it a promising anticancer agent for ovarian cancer.
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