Design, synthesis and antimetastatic evaluation of 1-benzothiazolylphenylbenzotriazoles for photodynamic therapy in oral cancer cells

Abstract

We have designed and synthesized a new series of 1-benzothiazolylphenylbenzotriazoles 9a–p and studied their antimetastatic mechanism involved in photosensitive effects induced by UVA in oral cancer cell Ca9-22. Our results revealed that the compounds plus UVA significantly suppressed migration and invasion, as detected by wound healing assay and Boyden chamber assay. Quantitative RT-PCR assay indicated that compound 9i plus UVA induced an antimetastatic effect through up-regulation of syndecan-1 and TIMP-3 and down-regulation of heparanase, MMP-2 and MMP-9 mRNA expressions. Western blot analysis showed that Ca9-22 treated with 9i plus UVA resulted in decreased levels of p-EGFR and p-ERK, MMP-2 and MMP-9, and an increased level of TIMP-3. These results are the first to report the function of UVA-activated 1-benzothiazolylphenylbenzotriazoles in tumor metastasis and their underlying molecular mechanism, and thus suggest that compound 9i plus PDT may serve as a potential ancillary modality for the treatment of oral cancer.