Novel thiosemicarbazone derivative 17B interferes with the cell cycle progression and induce apoptosis through modulating downstream signaling pathways

Thiosemicarbazones (TSCs) are interesting group of chemical compounds that received significant levels of attention due their wide range of pharmacological effects including antibacterial, antiviral, and especially anti-tumor activities. Several thiosemicarbazone derivatives have been extensively reported recently with their anti-tumor properties but designing and developing novel thiosemicarbazone derivatives with more potent chemotherapeutic activities is of great interest for cancer future cancer therapy. Thus, here we aimed to demonstrate as yet undetermined anti-cancer properties of novel thiosemicarbazone derivative 17B. Viability of cells was determined using MTT assay and LDH activities were analyzed using lactate dehydrogenase activity assay. Apoptosis were assayed using Annexin V-FITC and PI double staining method and cell cycle analysis was achieved by using PI staining with fluorescence-activated cell sorting and migration capacities of cells were determined by wound healing assay. As a result, 17B limited cell viability and showed cytotoxic effects in a dose-dependent manner in A549, MCF7 and U2OS cells. In addition, it inhibited progression through cell cycle by interfering with the Gl/S transition and triggered apoptosis by modulating expression levels of pro-apoptotic and anti-apoptotic mediators in MCF7 and U2OS cells. Also, 17B significantly impaired the migration of cancer cells and delayed wound healing in all cells. Consequently, findings of the present study have strongly indicated that 17B might be a novel anti-cancer agent for the treatment of breast cancer and osteosarcoma but not for lung cancer. Our results have provided mechanistic insights into anti-cancer properties of a novel thiosemicarbazone derivative 17B.