Macrophage and colon tumor cells as targets for a binuclear silver(I) N-heterocyclic carbene complex, an anti-inflammatory and apoptosis mediator.

Macrophage and colon tumor cells as targets for a binuclear silver(I) N-heterocyclic carbene complex, an anti-inflammatory and apoptosis mediator. J Inorg Biochem. 2015 Feb 7;146C:1-13 Authors: Iqbal MA, Umar MI, Haque RA, Khadeer Ahamed MB, Asmawi MZ, Majid AM Abstract Chronic inflammation intensifies the risk for malignant neoplasm, indicating that curbing inflammation could be a valid strategy to prevent or cure cancer. Cancer and inflammation are inter-related diseases and many anti-inflammatory agents are also used in chemotherapy. Earlier, we have reported a series of novel ligands and respective binuclear Ag(I)-NHC complexes (NHC=N-heterocyclic carbene) with potential anticancer activity. In the present study, a newly synthesized salt (II) and respective Ag(I)-NHC complex (III) of comparable molecular framework were prepared for a further detailed study. Preliminarily, II and III were screened against HCT-116 and PC-3 cells, wherein III showed better results than II. Both the compounds showed negligible toxicity against normal CCD-18Co cells. In FAM-FLICA caspase assay, III remarkably induced caspase-3/7 in HCT-116 cells most probably by tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) independent intrinsic pathway and significantly inhibited in vitro synthesis of cytokines, interleukin-1 (IL-1) and TNF-α in human macrophages (U937 cells). In a cell-free system, both the compounds inhibited cyclooxygenase (COX) activities, with III being...
Source: Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry - Category: Biochemistry Authors: Tags: J Inorg Biochem Source Type: research