Cytotoxic Imidazolyl-Mesalazine Ester-Based Ru(II) Complexes Reduce Expression of Stemness Genes and Induce Differentiation of Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma

• Published in: Journal of medicinal chemistry 2023-10, Vol.66 (20), p.14061-14079
• Main Authors: Kumari, Pragya, Ghosh, Subhashis, Acharya, Sourav, Mitra, Paromita, Roy, Souryadip, Ghosh, Shilpendu, Maji, Moumita, Singh, Sandeep, Mukherjee, Arindam
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0022-2623; 1520-4804
• DOI: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.3c01092

The aggressiveness and recurrence of cancer is linked to cancer stem cells (CSCs), but drugs targeting CSCs may not succeed in the clinic due to the lack of a distinct CSC subpopulation. Clinical Pt­(II) drugs can increase stemness. We screened 15 RuII or IrIII complexes with mesal­azine or 3-amino­benzoate Schiff bases of the general formulas [Ru­(p-cym)­L]+, [Ru­(p-cym)­L], and [Ir­(Cp*)­L]+ (L = L1–L9) and found three complexes (2, 12, and 13) that are active against oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) CSCs. There is a putative oncogenic role of transcription factors (viz. NOTCH1, SOX2, c-MYC) to enhance the stemness. Our work shows that imidazolyl-mesal­azine ester-based RuII complexes inhibit growth of CSC-enriched OSCC 3D spheroids at low micromolar doses (2 μM). Complexes 2, 12, and 13 reduce stemness gene expression and induce differentiation markers (Involucrin, CK10) in OSCC 3D cultures. The imidazolyl-mesal­azine ester-based RuII complex 13 shows the strongest effect. Downregulating c-MYC suggests that RuII complexes may target c-MYC-driven cancers.