β-Carboline copper complex as a potential mitochondrial-targeted anticancer chemotherapeutic agent: Favorable attenuation of human breast cancer MCF7 cells via apoptosis.

The development of preferentially selective cancer chemotherapeutics is a new trend in drug research. Thus, we designed and synthesized novel ternary complexes, [Cu(tryp)(Hnor)(DMSO)]NO ( and [Zn(tryp)(Hnor)(DMSO)]NO (tryp = DL-Tryptophane; Hnor = Norharmane, β-carboline; DMSO = Dimethyl sulfoxide), characterized with elemental analysis, FTIR, UV-vis, FL, NMR, ESI-MS, and molar conductivity. Furthermore, the TD-DFT studies with UV-vis and FTIR validated the proposed structures of and . Moreover, we evaluated the HOMO-LUMO energy gap and found that has a smaller energy gap than . Then, and were assessed for anticancer chemotherapeutic potential against cancer cell lines MCF7 (human breast cancer) and HepG2 (human liver hepatocellular carcinoma) as well as the non-tumorigenic HEK293 (human embryonic kidney) cells. The MTT assay illustrated the preferentially cytotoxic behavior of when compared with that of and cisplatin (standard drug) against MCF7 cells. Moreover, was exposed to MCF7 cells, and the results indicated the arrest of the G2/M phases, which followed the apoptotic pathway predominantly. Generation of ROS, GSH depletion, and elevation in LPO validated the redox changes prompted by . These studies establish the great potential of as a candidate for anticancer therapeutics.