Antiproliferative activity in vitro of side-chain analogues of calcitriol against various human normal and cancer cell lines

The antiproliferative in vitro activity of side-chain modified analogues of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D-3 was examined in order to select compounds with potential antitumor activity. Analogues PRI-1906, PRI-1907, PRI-1909, PRI-2191, PRI-2192, PRI-2193 and PRI-2194 were examined for their antiproliferative activity in vitro against a spectrum of various human cancer cell lines using the MTT technique. In addition, analogues PRI-1906 and PRI-2191 were screened against cells of human leukaemia HL-60 line and against normal human skin fibroblasts. Calcitriol and these two analogues revealed strong antiproliferative activity against these two targets with maximal growth inhibition of 68% for HL-60 cells and of 60% for fibroblasts, and this effect was dose dependent. All analogues tested except PRI-1909, revealed antiproliferative activity against human carcinoma cell lines of breast origin applied namely against T47D and MCF-7. The maximal growth inhibition of 49% for T47D cell line and 39% for MCF-7 line was observed, and this effect was close dependent. The inhibitory doses of the analogues tested were compared with the indices for calcitriol. Analogue PRI-1906 revealed the strongest antiproliferative activity against these fern target cell lines (HL-60, fibroblasts, MCF-7, and T47D). The novel analogues of calcitriol, similarly to calcitriol, appeared to be not active against other human cancer cell lines tested (including those originated from lung, colon, prostate, urinary bladder; ovary pancreas, stomach and kidney) revealing an antiproliferative activity nor exceeding 20%. The mechanism of the observed antiproliferative effect of calcitriol and its analogues in vitro remains unclear; however; it may be related to their effect on cell differentiation. The appearance of antigen CD14 and CD11b expression after exposure to calcitriol and its new analogues confirmed their effect on cell differentiation.