Asymmetrically substituted cationic indole- and fluorene porphyrins inhibit tumor proliferation in small intestinal neuroendocrine tumors and medullary thyroid carcinomas.

In this study we demonstrate anticancer activity of novel fully water soluble cationic porphyrins. The two cationic porphyrins 5,10,15-tris(N-methylpyridinium-4-yl)-20-[1-phenyl-4-(3-N-phenylsulfonylindolyl)]-21H,23H-porphyrin chloride (TMPy(3)PhenIndolprot(1)P-Cl(3)) and 5-{5-[2-(9,9-Dimethyl)fluorenyl]-N-methylpyridinium-3-yl}-10,15,20-tris(N-methyl-pyridinium-4-yl)-21H,23H-porphyrin chloride (TMPy(3)PyFluorenyl(1)P-Cl(4)) were prepared and their antiproliferative effects were studied in two human tumor cell lines and a normal human fibroblast cell line. Effects of the novel porphyrin compounds were evaluated in the small intestinal neuroendocrine tumor cell line KRJ-I, the medullary thyroid carcinoma cell line MTC-SK and the normal human fibroblast cell line HF-SAR by cell counting, cell proliferation assays and cell cytotoxicity analyses.

DNA interactions and photocatalytic strand cleavage by artificial nucleases based on water-soluble gold(III) porphyrins.

The novel gold porphyrin complex (5,10,15-tris(N-methylpyridinium-4-yl)-20-(1-pyrenyl)-porphyrinato)gold(III) chloride, [Au(III)(TMPy3Pyr1P)]Cl4, was prepared and characterized by optical spectroscopy, high-resolution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and electrospray mass spectrometry. This cationic multichromophore compound exhibits excellent water solubility and does not form aggregates under physiological conditions. Binding interactions of this complex and related model compounds with nucleic acid substrates have been studied and characterized by NMR and circular dichroism spectroscopy.