The induction of apoptosis in BEL-7402 cells through the ROS-mediated mitochondrial pathway by a ruthenium(ii) polypyridyl complex

Abstract

A new Ru(II) polypyridyl complex [Ru(phen)₂(addppn)](ClO₄)₂ (Ru1) has been synthesized and characterized. The DNA-binding constant of the complex with DNA was determined to be 1.93 (±0.12) × 10⁶ M⁻¹. The complex interacts with DNA by an intercalative mode. Cytotoxicity in vitro, apoptosis, cell cycle distribution, apoptotic pathway, reactive oxygen species and mitochondrial membrane potential assays were performed. The IC₅₀ values of Ru1 toward BEL-7402, HeLa, MG-63 and SKBR-3 cell lines are 3.9 ± 0.4, 9.0 ± 0.8, 6.6 ± 0.6 and 5.1 ± 0.6 μM, respectively. Interestingly, Ru1 shows a higher cytotoxicity than cisplatin on BEL-7402 cells under identical conditions. Ru1 can effectively induce apoptosis in BEL-7402 and induces cell cycle arrest at the G0/G1 phase in BEL-7402 cells and at the G2/M phase in SKBR-3 cells. In addition, Ru1 can enhance the level of reactive oxygen species and induce the decrease of the mitochondrial membrane potential. Western blot analysis shows that Ru1 activates caspase-3 and -7, down-regulates the expression of the anti-apoptotic proteins of Bcl-x and Bag-1, and upregulates the levels of the proapoptotic proteins of Bad, Bak, Bax and Bim in BEL-7402 cells. These results show that Ru1 induces apoptosis in BEL-7402 cells through an ROS-mediated mitochondrial dysfunction pathway.