Abstract
Carbon monoxide (CO) plays a role in many physiological and pathophysiological processes as a second messenger. Emerging evidence reveals the potential CO has as a therapeutic agent as it has been implicated in the modulation in a range of intracellular functions including apoptosis and proliferation. In the case of cancer, specifically triple negative breast cancer (TNBC), there is very little information regarding the effects of this molecule. Here we hypothesize that the targeted delivery of CO to a tumour will result in an anti-cancer effect in TNBC. The current study examines a novel class of compounds termed organic CO releasing molecules (CORMs) (CO-1 – CO-8) and previously published metal containing CORMs (CORM-2), as potential treatments for TNBC. Firstly a wide range of synthesised novel organic CORMs were screened for toxicity in MDA-MB-231 cells, a model for TNBC, and the lead compound CO-1 was identified from a range of 8 potential candidates (CO-1 – CO-8). Analysis of cell viability data revealed that CO-1 (1 – 200 μM) resulted in significant reductions in cell viability with an IC75 value of around 5 μM in the MDA-MB-231 TNBC cell line, while the by-product of CO-1, BP-1, demonstrated no residual cytotoxic effects. Time course and gas chromatograph-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) studies revealed that the compound released CO at a slow rate with a half-life in vitro between 9 and 24 hours. The ability of CO-1 and CORM-2 to modulate cell death via the induction of apoptosis was demonstrated using Annexin V conjugated to fluorescein (FITC) and propidium iodide (PI) staining followed by FACS analysis. CO-1 was able to induce apoptosis in MDA-MB-231 cells at both low (10 μM) and high (200 μM) concentrations (6% and 6% respectively) with no apoptotic or necrotic effects being observed when cells were treated with the by-product of CO-1, BP-1. The transition metal containing CORM-2 (200 μM) did not increase apoptotic markers compared to control, however treatment of cells with its “inactive” counterpart iCORM-2 (200 μM) resulted in a significant increase (7%) in apoptosis. In addition high (200 μM) but not low (5 and 10 μM) concentrations of CO-1 and CORM-2 produced a significant increase in the percentage of cells with a damaged mitochondrial membrane (3% and 5% for CO-1 and CORM-2 respectively), indicating that CO may have some concentration specific effects in vitro. High (200 μM) concentrations of both CO-1 and CORM-2 were also shown to induce mitochondrial damage in the MDA-MB-231 cell line and further to the potential anti-cancer effects of the novel compound CO-1, we have shown that low (10 μM) concentrations of the molecule causes a 1.2-fold and 1.4-fold increase in caspase 3 and p53 expression and a 1.2-fold increase in caspase 3 activation. The safety of both organic and transition metal CORMs were also assessed in the renal epithelial MDCK cell line. In MDCK cells treated with CO-1 (10 and 200 μM), COM-2 and iCORM-2 (20 and 100 μM) showed histopathological changes indicative of cell death were observed. These changes were not present in cells treated with the by-product of CO-1, BP-1. Interestingly the changes in histological architecture in MDCK cells treated with iCORM-2 appeared more extensive and severe that in cells treated with the active form of the compound CORM-2. Furthermore treatment of MDCK cells with low (10 μM) concentrations of CO-1, 20 and 200 μM CORM-2 and 200 μM iCORM-2 resulted in G2/M cell cycle arrest in the MDCK cell line. The current study proved CO-1, to be a safe and efficacious pharmacological agent with the ability to induce a cytotoxic and cytostatic effect in the MDA-MB-231 and MDCK cell line with no residual toxic effects resulting from treatment of cell with the by-product of CO-1 (BP-1). Our findings cast doubt over the notion that existing transition metal CORMs in their “inactive” form are not without biological effects. Therefore the current study has shown that novel organic CORMs have a combination of properties that translate into a desirable and potential treatment for TNBC.