Synthesis, Aqueous Reactivity, and Biological Evaluation of Carboxylic Acid Ester-Functionalized Platinum-Acridine Hybrid Anticancer Agents

The synthesis of platinum-acridine hybrid agents containing carboxylic acid ester groups is described. The most active derivatives and the unmodified parent compounds showed up to 6-fold higher activity in ovarian cancer (OVCAR-3) and breast cancer (MCF-7, MDA-MB-231) cell lines than cisplatin. Inhibition of cell proliferation at nanomolar concentrations was observed in pancreatic (PANC-1) and nonsmall cell lung cancer cells (NSCLC, NCI-H460) of 80- and 150-fold, respectively. Introduction of the ester groups did not affect the cytotoxic properties of the hybrids, which form the same monofunctional-intercalative DNA adducts as the parent compounds, as demonstrated in a plasmid unwinding assay. In-line high-performance liquid chromatography and electrospray mass spectrometry (LC-ESMS) shows that the ester moieties undergo platinum-mediated hydrolysis in a chloride concentration-dependent manner to form carboxylate chelates. Potential applications of the chloride-sensitive ester hydrolysis as a self-immolative release mechanism for tumor-selective delivery of platinum-acridines are discussed.