Influence of New Synthetic Xanthones on the Proliferation and Migration Potential of Cancer Cell Lines in Vitro

BACKGROUND: Natural plant metabolites and their semisynthetic derivatives have been used for years in cancer therapy. Xanthones are oxygenated heterocyclic compounds produced as secondary metabolites by higher plants, fungi or lichens. Xanthone core may serve as a template in the synthesis of many derivatives that have broad biological activities. OBJECTIVE: There were synthesized a series of 17 new xanthones and their anticancer potential was evaluated. METHOD: Anticancer potential in vitro was evaluated using a highly invasive T24 cancer cell line. Direct cytotoxic effects of the xanthones were established by IC50 estimation based on XTT assay. RESULTS: 5 compounds of the total 17 performed significant cytotoxicity towards the studied cancer cultures and were submitted to further detailed analysis, including studies of their influence on gelatinase A and B expression, as well as on the cancer cells migration and adhesion to extracellular matrix. These analyses were carried out on five human tumor cell lines: A2780 (ovarian cancer), A549 (lung cancer), HeLa (cervical cancer), Hep G2 (liver cancer), and T24 (urinary bladder cancer). All compounds, especially 4, showed promising anticancer activity: they performed significant cytotoxicity towards all the evaluated cell lines, including MCF-7 breast cancer, and hindered migration-motility activity of cancer cells demonstrating more potent activity than α-mangostin which served as a reference xanthone. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that our xanthone derivatives may be further analyzed in order to include them in cancer treatment protocols.