Antitumor and apoptotic effects of new-generation platinum compounds on human leukemia cell lines HL-60 and K562

The goal of this investigation is to report the fabrication, characterization, cytotoxicity, and apoptotic assessment of new platinum based compounds on K562 and HL-60 human leukemia cells. Two new platinum (II) compounds, Pt-5a and Pt-6a, were prepared and characterized by fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1HNMR), environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM) and energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS) techniques. The cytotoxic activities of the compounds were evaluated by 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) test. Caspase-3, B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2), and B-cell lymphoma 2 associated X protein (Bax) gene expressions were evaluated by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) to illuminate the mechanism of apoptosis. The results present that the applied compounds exhibited dose-dependent cytotoxic effects in-vitro. Pt-5a and Pt-6a compounds caused a rise in Bax in HL-60 cells while a reduction in Bcl-2 was recorded in all applied doses. In HL-60 cells, an increase in caspase-3 was detected at doses of 25 µM and 50 µM of Pt-5a and 30 µM of Pt-6a. The treatment with 40 µM of Pt-5a increased caspase-3 and Bax in K562 cells compared with control cells. Bcl-2 was found to be low in 20 µM of Pt-5a treatment in K562 cells. Pt-6a caused a significant increase in caspase-3 at the dose of 30 µM in the same cells. It is proposed that the newly synthesized platinum compounds may prove to be significant in the development of anticancer-effective drugs as they trigger apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner.