Scientists in India have synthesized a novel inorganic-organic hybrid compound that can inhibit breast, liver and lung cancer cells, which has opened up new possibilities for metallodrugs.
This was done by a group of scientists from the Institute of Nano Science and Technology, which is an autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology Government of India. The team led by Dr. Monika Singh and Dr. Deepika Sharma has come up with a mechanism by which the compound kills the cancer cells. Dalton Transactions journal published the findings.
The scientists used hydrothermal method to look into the mechanism of how the compound affected the cancer cells. The aqueous mixture of sodium molybdate, phosphorus acid, and bipyridine was heated in an acetate buffer solution of pH 4 at 160 °C for 72 hours. In vitro cytotoxicity of the compound was determined on breast cancer (MCF-7), lung cancer (A549) and liver cancer (HepG2) cells by the conventional MTT assay (used for assessing cell metabolic activity), an official release said. The cytotoxic effect observed for the compound on the various cancer cell lines was further compared with that of a routinely used chemotherapeutic agent, Methotrexate (TCI), by the MTT assay, it added.
Cell death occurred in breast cancer, lung cancer and liver cancer was evaluated using Alexa Fluor 488 annexin V/dead cell apoptosis kit (Invitrogen). The results showed that showed that the hybrid solid was less toxic towards normal cells, and its antitumor activity was also found to be comparable with that of a routinely used chemotherapeutic agent, Methotrexate (MTX).
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