H2S-Donating Doxorubicins May Overcome Cardiotoxicity and Multidrug Resistance

J Med Chem. 2016 May 26;59(10):4881-9. doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.6b00184. Epub 2016 May 5.

Abstract

Doxorubicin (DOXO) is one of the most effective antineoplastic agents in clinical practice. Its use is limited by acute and chronic side effects, in particular by its cardiotoxicity and by the rapid development of resistance to it. As part of a program aimed at developing new DOXO derivatives endowed with reduced cardiotoxicity, and active against DOXO-resistant tumor cells, a series of H2S-releasing DOXOs (H2S-DOXOs) were obtained by combining DOXO with appropriate H2S donor substructures. The resulting compounds were studied on H9c2 cardiomyocytes and in DOXO-sensitive U-2OS osteosarcoma cells, as well as in related cell variants with increasing degrees of DOXO-resistance. Differently from DOXO, most of the products were not toxic at 5 μM concentration on H9c2 cells. A few of them triggered high activity on the cancer cells. H2S-DOXOs 10 and 11 emerged as the most interesting members of the series. The capacity of 10 to impair Pgp transporter is also discussed.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Antineoplastic Agents / adverse effects
  • Antineoplastic Agents / chemistry*
  • Antineoplastic Agents / metabolism
  • Antineoplastic Agents / pharmacology*
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Cell Proliferation / drug effects
  • Dose-Response Relationship, Drug
  • Doxorubicin / adverse effects*
  • Doxorubicin / analogs & derivatives
  • Doxorubicin / chemistry
  • Doxorubicin / pharmacology*
  • Drug Resistance, Multiple / drug effects*
  • Drug Resistance, Neoplasm / drug effects*
  • Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor
  • Humans
  • Hydrogen Sulfide / metabolism*
  • Hydrogen Sulfide / pharmacology
  • Molecular Structure
  • Myocytes, Cardiac / drug effects*
  • Osteosarcoma / drug therapy
  • Osteosarcoma / pathology
  • Reactive Oxygen Species / metabolism
  • Structure-Activity Relationship

Substances

  • Antineoplastic Agents
  • Reactive Oxygen Species
  • Doxorubicin
  • Hydrogen Sulfide