Anticancer potential of new steroidal thiazolidin-4-one derivatives. Mechanisms of cytotoxic action and effects on angiogenesis in vitro

The synthesis and cytotoxic activities determination of new steroidal mono- and bis(thiazolidin-4-ones) 4a-f and 5a-f have been performed. Their anticancer action was also evaluated in comparison to previously synthesized and reported corresponding steroidal thiosemicarbazones. All compounds were obtained as stereoisomeric mixtures with different configuration (E or Z) in the hydrazone moiety at the C-3 position. After several consecutive crystallizations diastereomerically pure major (5)-isomers of mono-thiazolidin-4-ones were isolated. The structure and stereochemistry of 2,4-thiazolidinedione,2-[(17-oxoandrost-4-en-3-ylidene)hydrazone] were confirmed by X-ray analysis. A pathway for the formation of thiazolidin-4-one ring was proposed. The steroid thiazolidinone derivatives examined in this study exerted selective concentration-dependent cytotoxic activities on six tested malignant cell lines. Ten out of twelve examined compounds exhibited strong cytotoxic effects on K562 cells (IC50 values from 8.5 mu M to 14.9 mu M), eight on HeLa cells (IC50 values ranging from 8.9 mu M to 15.1 mu M) while against MDA-MB-361 cells six compouds exerted similar or even higher cytotoxic action (IC50 values from 12.7 mu M to 25.6 mu M) than cisplatin (21.5 mu M) which served as a positive control. Eight of these ten compounds showed high selectivity in the cytotoxic action against HeLa and K562 cancer cell lines when compared with normal human fibroblasts MRC-5 and normal human PBMC. The study of mechanisms of the anticancer activity of the two selected compounds, mono- and bis(thiazolidin-4-one) derivatives of 19-norandrost-4-ene-3,17-dione 4a and 5a, revealed that both of these compounds induced apoptosis in HeLa cells through extrinsic and intrinsic signalling pathways. Treatment of EA.hy926 cells with sub-toxic concentrations of these compounds led to the inhibition of cell connecting and sprouting, and tube formation. The synthesized compounds exhibited poor antioxidant activity.