Targeting Ovarian Cancer with Chalcone Derivatives: Cytotoxicity and Apoptosis Induction in HGSOC Cells

Overview

Journal Molecules

Publisher MDPI

Specialty Biology

Date 2023 Dec 9

PMID 38067507

Authors

Elif Merve Aydin

Idil Su Canitez

Eleonora Colombo

Salvatore Princiotto

Daniele Passarella

Sabrina Dallavalle

Michael S Christodoulou

Irem Durmaz Sahin

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Ovarian cancer ranks as the eighth most prevalent form of cancer in women across the globe and stands as the third most frequent gynecological cancer, following cervical and endometrial cancers. Given its resistance to standard chemotherapy and high recurrence rates, there is an urgent imperative to discover novel compounds with potential as chemotherapeutic agents for treating ovarian cancer. Chalcones exhibit a wide array of biological properties, with a particular focus on their anti-cancer activities. In this research, we documented the synthesis and in vitro study of a small library of chalcone derivatives designed for use against high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC) cell lines, specifically OVCAR-3, OVSAHO, and KURAMOCHI. Our findings revealed that three of these compounds exhibited cytotoxic and anti-proliferative effects against all the tested HGSOC cell lines, achieving IC concentrations lower than 25 µM. Further investigations disclosed that these chalcones prompted an increase in the subG1 phase cell cycle and induced apoptosis in OVCAR-3 cells. In summary, our study underscores the potential of chalcones as promising agents for the treatment of ovarian cancer.

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