Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) Inducible DNA Cross-Linking Agents and Their Effect on Cancer Cells and Normal Lymphocytes
作者:Wenbing Chen、Kumudha Balakrishnan、Yunyan Kuang、Yanyan Han、Min Fu、Varsha Gandhi、Xiaohua Peng
DOI:10.1021/jm401349g
日期:2014.6.12
Reducing host toxicity is one of the main challenges of cancer chemotherapy. Many tumor cells contain high levels of ROS that make them distinctively different from normal cells. We report a series of ROS-activated aromatic nitrogen mustards that selectively kill chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) over normal lymphocytes. These agents showed powerful DNA cross-linking abilities when coupled with H2O2, one of the most common ROS in cancer cells, whereas little DNA cross-linking was detected without H2O2. Consistent with chemistry observation, in vitro cytotoxicity assay demonstrated that these agents induced 40-80% apoptosis in primary leukemic lymphocytes isolated from CLL patients but less than 25% cell death to normal lymphocytes from healthy donors. The IC50 for the most potent compound (2) was similar to 5 mu M in CLL cells, while the IC50 was not achieved in normal lymphocytes. Collectively, these data provide utility and selectivity of these agents that will inspire further and effective applications.