Effects of ruthenium complex trans[Ru(ThySMet)(PPh3)2(bipy)]PF6 on breast tumor cells in three-dimensional culture

• Grant number: 17/20055-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: December 18, 2017
• End date: June 17, 2018
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Morphology - Cytology and Cell Biology
• Principal Investigator: Márcia Regina Cominetti
• Grantee: Amanda Blanque Becceneri
• Supervisor: Sophie Lelievre
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde (CCBS). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Purdue University, United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 14/25121-8 - Antitumor activity and mutagenic potential of New Ruthenium Complexes, BP.DR

Abstract

Cancer is the second leading cause of death worldwide. Breast cancer is the most prevalent cancer in women. The development of new anticancer drugs is still a challenge due to fast acquired cellular resistance to treatment and the impossibility to increase doses without deadly toxicity for the patient. Metals have exclusive characteristics that can be exploited for the design of new drugs. In the last 20 years ruthenium complexes appeared as an alternative for cancer treatment due to theircharacteristics and versatility. Many studies have revealed advantages of three-dimensional (3D) culture techniques over traditional two-dimensional (2D) monolayer cultures. The 3D cell cultures should mimic the tumor microenvironment found in vivo more accurately. Despite many studies having demonstrated that 3D models simulate what occurs in vivo, the data still need to be validated in vivo using animal models. Animal models are important, but they present challenges, such as their high cost and the difficulty to closely mimic the malignant disease process found in humans. The development of techniques that can overcome the traditional in vitro and in vivo models deficiencies is pivotal. Organs-on-a-chip is a new area of 3D cell culture that opens new directions to overcome these deficiencies by providing an controlled microenvironment and organ architecture thanks to engineering. This project aims at learning new techniques of 3D cell culture and to test the ruthenium complex trans[Ru(ThySMet)(PPh3)2(bipy)]PF6 in breast tumor cells using 3D cell culture. Later, these new techniques could be used in the laboratory of origin for the screening of candidate substances to develop new drugs with antitumor potential.

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

BECCENERI, AMANDA B.; FUZER, ANGELINA M.; PLUTIN, ANA M.; BATISTA, ALZIR A.; LELIEVRE, SOPHIE A.; COMINETTI, MARCIA R.. Three-dimensional cell culture models for metallodrug testing: induction of apoptosis and phenotypic reversion of breast cancer cells by the trans-[Ru(PPh3)(2)(N,N-dimethyl-N-thiophenyl-thioureato-k(2)O,S)(bipy) ]PF6 complex. INORGANIC CHEMISTRY FRONTIERS, v. 7, n. 16, p. 2909-2919, AUG 21 2020. (17/01287-2, 18/19342-2, 13/07600-3, 17/20055-5, 15/24940-8, 14/25121-8)