Patent Application: US-201113091625-A

Abstract:
the present invention relates to metal thiourea complexes comprising n - substituted thiourea ligands and sulfur - coordinated metal ions , and methods for using the metal thiourea complexes for delivering otherwise unstable or impermeable metal ions to mammalian cells , for inhibiting cancer cell growth and inflammation , and for inhibiting the activities of associated drug targets under in vitro and in vivo conditions . the metal complexes of n - substituted thiourea are defined by the following formula wherein r 1 can be h , alkyl , alkenyl , alkynyl , aryl or heterocyclic groups ; r 2 can be h , alkyl , alkenyl , alkynyl or aryl groups ; n = 1 to 4 ; x − is a pharmaceutically acceptable anion and m is a coinage metal .

Description:
herein described are the biological activities of a set of au ( i ), ag ( i ) and cu ( i ) complexes supported by n , n ′- disubstituted cyclic thiourea ligands , an example of which is 1 , 3 - bis ( 4 - methoxyphenyl ) imidazolidine - 2 - thione ( tu ) ( fig1 ). these are homoleptic complexes of general formula [ m ( tu ) 2 ] y , where m is au ( i ), ag ( i ) or cu ( i ) ion . the molecular structures of [ au ( tu ) 2 ] cl ( 1 ) and [ ag ( tu ) 2 ] otf ( 2 ), have been established by x - ray crystallography [ fig3 and 4 ; table 1 and 2 ]. the m + ion in each case is coordinated by two thiourea ligands via the sulfur lone pair in a linear coordination geometry . the s - m - s bond angles ( for 1 , 175 . 1 °; for 2 , 172 . 7 °) and m - s bond lengths ( for 1 , 2 . 236 å ; for 2 , 2 . 407 å ) are similar to those found in the related au ( i ) and ag ( i ) complexes with other thiourea ligands ( for 1 , 2 . 278 - 2 . 406 å ; for 2 , 166 . 7 - 180 °, respectively ). 14 , 15 there is no close intermolecular m . . . m distance found in 1 (& gt ; 3 . 32 å ) and 2 ( 3 . 29 å ), suggesting that the intermolecular metal - metal interactions are weak . all the metal thiourea complexes are stable in solid state in air , soluble as 10 mm solution in dmso and maintain stability with negligible spectral change for a time period of 72 h . no precipitation occurred when these complexes were added up to 30 μm to serum supplemented cell culture medium . the effect of metal thiourea complexes on the growth of a panel of cancer cell lines were investigated ( table 3 ). all the metal complexes exerted cytotoxicity at low micromolar concentrations , with half maximal inhibitory concentrations ( ic 50 ) comparable to or lower than those of benchmark anticancer drug cisplatin . the ic 50 of metal - free thiourea ligand is more than 100 μm , suggesting that the biological activities of the metal complexes are largely metal mediated , and the lipophilic thiourea ligand serves as a nontoxic carrier of the metal ion to the cells . to test this notion , the activities of ag ( i ) thiourea complex 2 and ag + ions in the form of agno 3 solution were compared ( fig5 ). the ag uptake of cells treated with 10 μm of 2 or 10 μm of agno 3 for 2 h were measured by icp - ms . the data revealed that the ag content in 2 treated hela cells was 5 - fold higher than those treated with agno 3 . furthermore , the cytotoxic potency of 2 for hela cells is also nearly 5 - fold higher than that of agno 3 ( ic 50 = 32 . 1 ± 1 . 2 μm ). the therapeutic potential of au ( i ) has long attracted considerable interest . for example , au ( i )— thiolates ( aurothiomalate ) or phosphines ( auranofin ) are disease modifying anti - arthritic drugs , and have been recently studied for their anticancer properties . 16 , 17 we have examined the in vivo anti - cancer activities of 1 in mice inoculated with nci - h460 non - small cell lung cancer cells ( table 4 ). intraperitoneal injection of complex 1 at 100 mg / kg body weight for twice a week resulted in reduction in tumor size by ( 38 %± 11 , n = 5 ) compared to vehicle control after a 28 - day treatment . the exact molecular mechanism of action of au ( i ) compounds has yet to be elucidated , but is generally related to facile ligand exchange with thiol groups , particularly those with low pk a values . 18 , 19 in this regard , the thioredoxin reductase ( trxr ) is a compelling molecular target of au ( i ). 20 , 21 the mammalian trxr is a nadph dependent selenocysteine - containing which plays a pivotal role in cancer progression and inflammatory diseases , and inhibitors of this enzyme are considered as promising therapeutic agents . 22 , 23 the effect of au ( i ) thiourea complex 1 on cellular trxr activity has been investigated . as shown in fig6 , an one - hour treatment of hela cancer cells with 1 resulted in an inhibition of the cellular trxr activity with an ic 50 value of 50 nm . another selenocysteine - containing thiol enzyme , glutathione peroxidase ( gpx ), was also inhibited by 1 albeit with at higher concentration ( ic 50 = 1 μm ). glutathione reductase ( gr ) activity was not affected by 1 . for comparison , ag ( i ) thiourea complex 2 inhibited trxr and gpx with ic 50 of 100 nm and 1 μm , respectively , which are almost of with similar potency to complex 1 , and also significantly suppressed gr activities when added at 50 μm . all the enzyme activities were not affected by cu ( i ) complex 3 or metal - free thiourea ligand added up to 100 μm . these data demonstrate that among the coinage m + ions , au ( i ) preferentially targets the selenocysteine containing enzymes . our initial in vitro enzyme assays showed that half maximal inhibition of trxr ( 1 nm ) was obtained using approximately equal molar concentration of 1 , suggestive of a tight - binding mode of inhibition . this was further studied by progress curve analysis ( fig8 ). 24 , 25 1 was added in excess ( 3 - 100 nm ) to a reaction mixture containing 0 . 2 mm nadph , 1 nm trxr and 3 mm disulfide substrate 5 , 5 ′- dithiobis ( 2 - nitrobenzoic acid ) ( dtnb ) in phosphate buffer ( ph 7 . 4 ). the time course of change in the product concentrations at various concentrations of 1 are shown in fig8 a . the progress curves are non - linear , revealing two - phase equilibria typical of slow - onset tight - binding inhibition . this was analyzed using eq . 1 ( example 6 ), where p is the product concentration , v i and v f are the initial and final steady - state velocities , respectively , and k app is the apparent first - order rate constant for establishment of the final steady - state inhibition . a plot of the k app against the inhibitor concentrations followed a hyperbolic function ( fig8 b ). this is indicative of a two - step , tight - binding inhibition mechanism : e + i ⁢ ⁢ ⁢ k 1 ⇌ k 2 ⁢ ⁢ e ︸ k i ⁢ i ⁢ ⁢ ⁢ k 3 ⇌ k 4 ⁢ ⁢ ei * ︷ k i * where ei is the initial collision complex , k 3 is the forward isomerization rate , and k 4 is the reverse isomerization rate . in this scheme , binding involves rapid formation of an initial collision complex ( ei ) that subsequently undergoes isomerization to the final slow dissociating enzyme - inhibitor complex ( ei *). the k 3 , k 4 and the dissociation constant of the initial collision complex ei ( ki ′) can be obtained by fitting the data to eq . 2 . accordingly , k 3 = 0 . 011 s − 1 , k 4 = 0 . 00014 s − 1 and k i = 1 . 39 nm . thus , the tight binding inhibition is essentially irreversible , and in fact the enzyme activities could not be recovered after removal of the free inhibitors by ultrafiltration . the overall inhibitory constant k i * was determined to be 18 pm using eq . 3 . these inhibitory constants are also reasonably close to the corresponding values determined from the steady state rate law established in condition when ei * was preformed , with k i = 0 . 67 nm and k i *= 36 pm ( fig7 ). 1 is thus among the most potent trxr inhibitor reported . 20 , 23 the reduced trxr has free — sh ( cys496 ) and — seh ( sec497 ) groups at the c - terminal active site , making it vulnerable to be attacked by au ( i ). 20 , 22 , 23 these redox active sites can be probed by biotinylated iodoacetamide ( biam ), which alkylates the free — sh and — seh groups ; and the resulting adduct can be detected by western blot experiment using streptavidin - linked horseradish peroxidase ( fig1 ). 26 , 27 it has been shown that these residues can be selectively alkylated by biam by adjusting the ph . at ph 8 . 5 , both — sh and — seh are alkylated . at ph 6 . 5 , only the — seh is alkylated owing to the low pka value for selenocysteine , and thus a weaker streptavidin signal was obtained in which case . when nadph reduced trxr ( 0 . 1 μm ) was preincubated with 1 ( 4 μm ), the biam labeling at both ph 8 . 5 and ph 6 . 5 ( buffered with 0 . 1 m tris . hcl ) was inhibited , suggesting that the selenocysteine or additionally the cysteine residues at the active site were involved in the enzyme inactivation . this is consistent with the observation that the nadph reduced trxr , which exposes the free — sh and — seh groups , was much more efficiently inhibited by 1 than the oxidized trxr having the — s — se — group ( fig9 ). it is highly likely that the formation of the tight enzyme - inhibitor complex ( ei *) involves covalent modification of the redox active selenocysteine and cysteine residue via the au ( i ) complex . 28 in summary , d 10 metal complexes supported by thiourea ligands represent a new paradigm in developing bioactive metal based complexes . in particular , we have demonstrated that the au ( i ) thiourea complex confers specific tight binding inhibition of thioredoxin reductase with a potency among the lowest reported , 23 and exhibits effective suppression of cellular trxr activity . by variation of thiourea ligand , the metal thiourea complexes have the prospect to be a new class of metal based drugs leads . au ( tht ) cl and [ cu ( ch 3 cn ) 4 ] pf 6 were prepared according to literature procedures . 29 , 30 to a solution of p - anisidine ( 12 . 3 g , 0 . 1 mol ) in etoh ( 50 ml ) was added a mixture of 40 % aqueous solution of glyoxal ( 7 . 3 g , 0 . 05 mol ), etoh ( 10 ml ) and water ( 10 ml ) at 25 ° c . the mixture was stirred overnight at 25 ° c . upon addition of water ( 30 ml ), a yellow solid precipitated which was collected by filtration and dried in vacuo . yield : 5 . 5 g ( 82 %). 1 h nmr ( 400 mhz , cdcl 3 ): δ 8 . 42 ( s , 2h ), 7 . 32 ( d , j = 9 . 0 , 4h ), 6 . 96 ( d , j = 9 . 0 , 4h ), 3 . 84 ( s , 6h ). 13 c nmr ( 400 mhz , cdcl 3 ): δ 160 . 2 , 158 . 0 , 143 . 4 , 123 . 4 , 115 . 0 , 55 . 9 . a suspension of glyoxal - bis -( 4 - methoxyphenyl ) imine ( 1 . 34 g , 5 mmol ) in a mixture of thf ( 30 ml ) and meoh ( 5 ml ) was treated at 0 ° c . with sodium borohydride ( 0 . 76 g , 20 mmol ). the mixture was stirred overnight at 25 ° c . and subsequently heated for 2 h under reflux . upon addition of ice - water ( 30 ml ) and 3 m hcl ( 30 ml ), a white solid precipitated which was collected by filtration and dried in vacuo . yield : 1 . 2 g ( 88 %). 1 h nmr ( 400 mhz , cdcl 3 ): δ 6 . 79 ( d , j = 8 . 92 , 4h ), 6 . 62 ( d , j = 8 . 92 , 4h ), 3 . 75 ( s , 6h ), 3 . 34 ( s , 4h ). 13 c nmr ( 300 mhz , cdcl 3 ): δ 152 . 8 , 142 . 7 , 115 . 4 , 114 . 9 , 56 . 2 , 44 . 9 . to a solution of n , n ′- bis -( 4 - methoxyphenylamino ) ethane ( 1 . 4 g , 5 mmol ) in dry thf ( 40 ml ) was added 1 , 1 ′- thiocarbonyl diimidazole ( 1 . 1 g , 6 mmol ) at 25 ° c . the mixture was stirred overnight and subsequently heated for 2 h under reflux . after the addition of water and ethyl acetate , the organic layer was washed with dilute hcl and brine , dried and concentrated . the pure product was obtained through recrystallization from 95 % etoh . yield : 1 . 1 g ( 70 %). 1 h nmr ( 400 mhz , cdcl 3 ): δ 7 . 42 ( d , j = 8 . 96 , 4h ), 6 . 95 ( d , j = 8 . 96 , 4h ), 4 . 10 ( s , 4h ), 3 . 82 ( s , 6h ). 13 c nmr ( 300 mhz , cdcl 3 ): δ 182 . 6 , 158 . 6 , 134 . 3 , 127 . 6 , 114 . 6 , 55 . 9 , 50 . 3 . fab - ms : 315 [ m + h ] + . to a ch 2 cl 2 ( 5 ml ) solution of tu ( 0 . 31 g , 1 mmol ) was added au ( tht ) cl ( 0 . 16 g , 0 . 5 mmol ) in distilled meoh ( 5 ml ) under an argon atmosphere . the mixture was stirred at room temperature overnight and subsequently filtered . the filtrate was left standing overnight . colorless crystals were collected and dried in vacuo . yield : 76 %. fab - ms : m / z = 826 [ m ] + . 1 h nmr ( 400 mhz , dmso ): δ 7 . 38 ( d , j = 8 . 33 , 4h ), 7 . 42 ( d , j = 8 . 35 , 4h ), 4 . 21 ( s , 4h ), 3 . 77 ( s , 6h ). ir ( kbr , cm − 1 ): 2960 ( w ), 2929 ( w ), 2835 ( w ), 1606 ( m ), 1515 ( s ), 1283 ( m ), 1252 ( s ), 1162 ( m ), 1029 ( m ), 836 ( s ), 554 ( m ). anal . calcd . for auc 34 h 36 n 4 o 4 s 2 cl : c , 47 . 42 ; h , 4 . 21 ; n , 6 . 51 . found : c , 47 . 12 ; h , 4 . 00 ; n , 6 . 53 . thiourea tu ( 0 . 31 g , 1 mmol ) was dissolved in etoh ( 10 ml ) and silver triflate ( 0 . 13 g , 0 . 5 mmol ) was added under an argon atmosphere . the mixture was stirred at room temperature for 3 h , and subsequently filtered to remove the unreacted agotf . the filtrate was left standing overnight . colourless crystals were collected and dried in vacuo . yield : 82 %. fab - ms : 736 [ m ] + . 1 h nmr ( 400 mhz , cdcl 3 ): δ 7 . 33 ( d , j = 8 . 94 , 4h ), 6 . 93 ( d , j = 8 . 91 , 4h ), 4 . 21 ( s , 4h ), 3 . 71 ( s , 6h ). ir ( kbr , cm − 1 ): 2961 ( w ), 2930 ( w ), 2839 ( w ), 1605 ( w ), 1512 ( s ), 1275 ( s ), 1250 ( s ), 1165 ( m ), 1032 ( m ), 831 ( s ), 555 ( m ). anal . calcd . for agc 35 h 36 n 4 o 7 s 3 f 3 : c , 47 . 46 ; h , 4 . 10 ; n , 6 . 33 . found : c , 47 . 41 ; h , 4 . 15 ; n , 6 . 36 . thiourea tu ( 0 . 31 g , 1 mmol ) was dissolved in ch 2 cl 2 ( 10 ml ) and [ cu ( ch 3 cn ) 4 ] pf 6 ( 0 . 19 g , 0 . 5 mmol ) in distilled meoh ( 10 ml ) was added under an argon atmosphere . the mixture was stirred at room temperature for 2 h . the resulting white solid was filtered and washed with meoh , et 2 o and dried in vacuo . yield : 80 %. fab - ms : 692 [ m ] + . 1 h nmr ( 400 mhz , dmso ): δ 7 . 46 ( d , j = 8 . 97 , 4h ), 6 . 96 ( d , j = 8 . 90 , 4h ), 4 . 10 ( s , 4h ), 3 . 76 ( s , 6h ). ir ( kbr , cm − 1 ): 2969 ( w ), 2934 ( w ), 2838 ( w ), 1606 ( m ), 1514 ( s ), 1287 ( m ), 1252 ( s ), 1166 ( m ), 1030 ( m ), 838 ( s ), 556 ( m ). anal . calcd . for cuc 34 h 36 n 4 o 4 s 2 pf 6 : c , 48 . 77 ; h , 4 . 33 ; n , 6 . 69 . found : c , 48 . 12 ; h , 4 . 00 ; n , 6 . 32 . cells were seeded in a 96 - well flat - bottomed microplate at 20 , 000 cells / well in 150 μl of growth medium solution . the compounds were dissolved in dimethyl sulfoxide . serial dilution of each complex was added to each well with final concentration of dmso ≦ 1 %. the microplate was incubated at 37 ° c ., 5 % co 2 , 95 % air in a humidified incubator for 72 h . after incubation , 10 μl mtt reagent ( 5 mg / ml ) was added to each well . the microplate was re - incubated at 37 ° c . in 5 % co 2 for 4 h . solubilization solution ( 10 % sds in 0 . 01 m hcl ) ( 100 μl ) was added to each well . the microplate was left in an incubator for 24 h . absorbances at 550 nm were measured by a microplate reader . the ic 50 values ( the concentration required to reduce the absorbance by 50 % compared to the controls ) were determined . hela cells ( 2 × 10 5 cells / well ) were seeded in 12 - well plate with culture medium ( 2 ml / well ) and incubated at 37 ° c . in an atmosphere of 5 % co 2 / 95 % air for 24 h . the culture medium was then removed and replaced with fresh medium containing 2 and agno 3 ( 10 μm ). after exposure for 2 h , the medium was removed and the cell monolayer was washed three times with pbs . the cells were lysed with water and digested in 70 % hno 3 at 80 ° c . for 2 h . the digests were diluted with water to 10 ml for inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry ( icp - ms ) analysis . cells were seeded at 2 × 10 5 / well in 6 - well plates and incubated for 24 hours . the metal thiourea compounds ( 10 − 9 to 10 − 4 m ) were serially diluted and added to the cells ( final dmso concentrations ≦ 1 %). after an one - hour incubation , cells were washed thrice with phosphate buffered saline and 100 μl ice - cold lysis buffer ( 50 mm phosphate buffer , ph 7 . 4 , 1 mm edta , 0 . 1 % triton - x 100 ) were added to the cell layer . cell lysis was carried on ice for 5 minutes and the cell lysates were collected and stored at − 80 ° c . or assayed immediately . cell lysates ( 10 μg proteins ) were added to a mixture ( 100 μl ) containing 100 mm phosphate , ph 7 . 4 , 1 mm edta and 0 . 2 mm nadph . reaction was initiated by adding 5 , 5 ′- dithiobis ( 2 - nitrobenzoic acid ) ( dtnb , 3 mm final ) and the trxr activities were determined as increases in o . d . 412 nm in 10 min . cell lysates ( 10 μg proteins ) were added to a mixture containing 100 mm phosphate , ph 7 . 4 , 2 mm gsh , 1 u glutathione reductase , and 0 . 2 mm nadph . reaction was initiated by adding tert - butyl hydroperoxide ( 300 μm ) and the nadph oxidation was measured as decreases in o . d . 340 nm in 10 min . gpx activities ( δo . d . 340 nm / min ) were determined by subtracting the spontaneous nadph oxidation in the absence of tert - butyl hydroperoxide . cell lysates ( 10 μg proteins ) were added to a mixture containing 100 mm phosphate , ph 7 . 4 , 1 mm edta , 1 mm gssg and 0 . 2 mm nadph . reaction was initiated by adding dtnb ( 3 mm final ) and the increases in o . d . 412 nm were measured for 10 min . gr activities were determined by subtracting the increases in o . d . 412 nm in the absence of gssg . determination of inhibitory constant ( k i ) derived from residual activities of preformed enzyme - inhibitor complexes 33 , 34 ( fig7 ) 1 nm recombinant rat trxr1 ( icmo corp , sweden ) was reduced with 0 . 2 mm nadph and then incubated with 0 . 3 - 10 nm of 1 for 30 min in a buffer of 100 mm phosphate buffer , ph 7 . 4 and 1 mm edta . the residual activities were measured using 0 . 75 , 1 . 5 or 3 mm dtnb ( fig7 a ). the data were fit into eq . 1 using graphpad prism 3 . 0 software . v s / v o =( e t − k i − i t +(( i t + k i ′− e t ) 2 +( 4 k i e t )) 1 / 2 )/( 2 e t ) ( 1 ) eq . 1 describes the rate law of tight - binding inhibition in which case the inhibitor concentration is substantially depleted owing to formation of enzyme - inhibitor complex . in this equation , v o is the observed velocity in the absence of inhibitor , v s is the steady - state velocity in the presence of inhibitor , e t is the total enzyme concentration , and i is the inhibitor concentration . the apparent inhibitory constant ( k i ) so obtained was 0 . 67 nm . average inhibitory constant ( k i *) was calculated to be 36 pm using eq . 2 , ( fig7 b ) which takes into account of competitive inhibition of the enzyme with the substrate and a predetermined k m of 0 . 2 mm . determination of k i by progress curve analysis 35 , 36 ( fig8 ) 1 was added in excess ( 3 - 100 nm ) to a reaction mixture containing 0 . 2 mm nadph , 1 nm trxr1 , 3 mm disulfide substrate 5 , 5 ′- dithiobis ( 2 - nitrobenzoic acid ) ( dtnb ), 100 mm phosphate buffer , ph 7 . 4 and 1 mm edta . the time courses of change in the product concentration are shown in fig8 a . the progress curves are non - linear , showing two - phase equilibria typical of slow - onset tight - binding inhibition . the data was fit into eq . 1 using graphpad prism 3 . 0 software , p = v f t +(( v i − v f / k app )( 1 − e − kappt ) ( 1 ) where p is the product concentration , v i and v f are the initial and final steady - state velocities , respectively , and k app is the apparent first - order rate constant for establishment of the final steady - state inhibition . a plot of the k app against the inhibitor concentrations followed a hyperbolic function ( fig8 b ). this is indicative of a two - step , tight - binding inhibition mechanism : e + i ⁢ ⁢ ⁢ k 1 ⇌ k 2 ⁢ ⁢ e ︸ k i ⁢ i ⁢ ⁢ ⁢ k 3 ⇌ k 4 ⁢ ⁢ ei * ︷ k i * where ei is the initial collision complex , k 3 is the forward isomerization rate , and k 4 is the reverse isomerization rate . in this scheme , binding involves rapid formation of an initial collision complex ( ei ) that subsequently undergoes isomerization to the final slow dissociating enzyme - inhibitor complex ( ei *). the k 3 , k 4 and the dissociation constant of the initial collision complex ei ( ki ′) can be obtained by fitting the data to eq . 2 . k app = k 4 + k 3 i t ( i t + k i ′( 1 + s / k m )) ( 2 ) where i t is the inhibitor concentration , s is the substrate ( dtnb ) concentration and k m is the michaelis - menten constant for reduction of dtnb by trxr . accordingly , k 3 = 0 . 011 s − 1 , k 4 = 0 . 00014 s − 1 and k i ′= 1 . 39 nm . the overall inhibitory constant k i * was determined to be 18 pm using eq . 3 . k i *= k i ′( k 4 /( k 3 + k 4 )) ( 3 ) effects of nadph reduction of trxr1 inhibition by metal thiourea complexes ( fig9 ) 1 nm of trxr1 was incubated with or without 0 . 2 mm nadph in reaction buffer ( 100 mm phosphate , ph 7 . 4 , 1 mm edta ) for 5 min . metal thiourea complexes ( 1 - 100 nm ) was added and allowed to incubate for 30 min . dtnb ( 3 mm ) and nadph ( 0 . 2 mm ) was then added . the trxr1 activities were determined as the increases in o . d . 412 nm over 10 min . probing the cysteine and selenocysteine residues of trxr1 10 - 12 ( fig1 ) nadph - reduced trxr1 ( 0 . 1 μm ) and 1 ( 4 μm ) were incubated in reaction buffer ( 100 mm phosphate buffer , ph 7 . 4 , 1 mm edta ) at room temperature for 1 h . 1 μl of the reaction mixture was taken out and added to new tubes containing 19 μl of 100 μm biam ( buffered with 200 mm tris - hcl at ph 6 . 5 and 8 . 5 , respectively ). the incubation was carried out at 37 ° c . for 30 min to alkylate the remaining free — seh and — sh groups of the enzyme . 20 μl of the reaction mixtures were mixed with loading buffer and subjected to sds - page on a 7 . 5 % gel . the separated proteins were transferred to nitrocellulose membrane and the biam labeled proteins were detected with horseradish peroxidase conjugated streptavidin and enhanced chemiluminescence detection . tumor implantation in nude mice and in vivo drug treatment ( table 4 ) the in vivo experiment was conducted in pearl materia medica development ( shenzhen ) limited and performed with approval from the committee on the use of live animals for teaching and research . spf grade four - 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