Enhanced antitumor effect of L-buthionine sulfoximine or ionizing radiation by copper complexes with 2,2´-biquinoline and sulfonamides on A549 2D and 3D lung cancer cell models.

Two ternary copper(II) complexes with 2,2'-biquinoline (BQ) and with sulfonamides: sulfamethazine (SMT) or sulfaquinoxaline (SDQ) whose formulae are Cu(SMT)(BQ)Cl and Cu(SDQ)(BQ)Cl·CHOH, in what follows SMTCu and SDQCu, respectively, induced oxidative stress by increasing ROS level from 1.0 μM and the reduction potential of the couple GSSG/GSH. The co-treatment with L-buthionine sulfoximine (BSO), which inhibits the production of GSH, enhanced the effect of copper complexes on tumor cell viability and on oxidative damage.

6-Methoxyquinoline complexes as lung carcinoma agents: induction of oxidative damage on A549 monolayer and multicellular spheroid model.

The aim of this work was to study the antitumor effects and the mechanisms of toxic action of a series of 6-methoxyquinoline (6MQ) complexes in vitro. The Cu(II) and Zn(II) complexes (Cu6MQ and Zn6MQ) are formulated as M(6MQ)Cl; the Co(II) and Ag(I) compounds (Co6MQ and Ag6MQ) are ionic with formulae [Ag(6MQ)]NO and H(6MQ)[Co(6MQ)Cl] (where H(6MQ) is the protonated ligand). We found that the copper complex, outperformed the Co(II), Zn(II) and Ag(I) complexes with a lower IC (57.