Publications by authors named "Zhen-Lei Zhang"

Article Synopsis
  • Researchers created four new copper(II) hydrazone complexes to assess their potential in treating lung cancer.
  • The MTT assays indicated that these complexes, especially complex 3, were more effective against cancer cells than the common drug cisplatin, showing selective toxicity towards A549 lung cancer cells.
  • Complex 3 not only demonstrated low toxicity in normal cells but also effectively killed tumor cells through multiple anticancer pathways, including a process called cuproptosis, confirming its potential for lung cancer treatment in experiments with mice.
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Induction of cuproptosis and targeting of multiple signaling pathways show promising applications in tumor therapy. In this study, we synthesized two thiosemicarbazone-copper complexes ([Cu(L)Cl] 1 and [CuCu(L)Cl] 2, where HL is the ()--methyl-2-(phenyl(pyridin-2-yl)methylene ligand), to assess their antilung cancer activities. Both copper complexes showed better anticancer activity than cisplatin and exhibited hemolysis comparable to that of cisplatin.

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Developing high performance fluorescent chemo-sensors for in vitro and in vivo Al detection is highly desirable, because Al accumulation has been involved to various diseases. Herein, we report a highly selective and sensitive Schiff base fluorescent probe, HL, based on 2-hydroxynaphthalene, which can recognize aluminum ions and exhibit an "off-on" mode with high selectivity in methanol solutions. The detection limit of the probe for Al is as low as 10 M which was determined by fluorescent titration.

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Thiazolidinone derivatives have been previously shown significant anti-cancer activities. Two amino-thiazolidinone complexes, [Pt(HTone)Cl] (1) and [Cu(HTone)Cl] (3) (HTone = (Z)-2-((E)-(1-(pyridin-2-yl)ethylidene)hydrazono)thiazolidin-4-one) and one ethyl-modified [Pt(ETone)Cl] (2) (ETone = (Z)-3-ethyl-2-((E)-(1-(pyridin-2-yl)ethylidene) hydrazono)thiazolidin-4-one)], were designed and synthesized in order to explore novel metal-based antitumor agents. MTT assay indicated that 1 and 3 were markedly cytotoxic to MCF-7, HepG-2 and NCI-H460 tumor cells, superior to both cisplatin and the HTone ligand.

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Aberrant ribosome biogenesis and enlarged nucleoli have long been used by pathologists as a marker of aggressive tumors. Suppression of RNA polymerase I (Pol I) transcription machinery within the nucleolus could be a direct way to trigger the nucleolar stress and to inhibit the rapid proliferation of cancer cells. Here we modified cisplatin with an analogue of the selective inhibitor of RNA polymerase I-mediated transcription BMH-21 to develop a novel platinum-based Pol I selective inhibitor.

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