Issue 4, 2018

A three-in-one-bullet for oesophageal cancer: replication fork collapse, spindle attachment failure and enhanced radiosensitivity generated by a ruthenium(ii) metallo-intercalator

Abstract

Substitutionally inert ruthenium(II) polypyridyl complexes have been developed as DNA intercalating agents yet cellular DNA damage responses to this binding modality are largely unexplored. Here, we show the nuclear-targeting complex [Ru(phen)2(tpphz)]2+ (phen = 1,10-phenanthroline, tpphz = tetrapyridophenazine) generates rapid and pronounced stalling of replication fork progression in p53-deficient human oesophageal cancer cells. In response, replication stress and double-strand break (DSB) DNA damage response (DDR) pathways are activated and cell proliferation is inhibited by growth arrest. Moreover, mitotic progression is compromised by [Ru(phen)2(tpphz)]2+, where the generation of metaphase chromosome spindle attachment failure results in spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC) activation. This dual mechanism of action results in preferential growth inhibition of rapidly-proliferating oesophageal cancer cells with elevated mitotic indices. In addition to these single-agent effects, [Ru(phen)2(tpphz)]2+ functions as a radiosensitizer with efficiency comparable to cisplatin, which occurs through a synergistic enhancement of DNA damage. These results establish that DNA replication is the target for [Ru(phen)2(tpphz)]2+ and provide the first experimental evidence that ruthenium-based intercalation targets multiple genome integrity pathways in cancer cells, thereby achieving enhanced selectivity compared to existing DNA-damaging agents such as cisplatin.

Graphical abstract: A three-in-one-bullet for oesophageal cancer: replication fork collapse, spindle attachment failure and enhanced radiosensitivity generated by a ruthenium(ii) metallo-intercalator

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
24 Aug. 2017
Accepted
16 Nov. 2017
First published
16 Nov. 2017
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY license

Chem. Sci., 2018,9, 841-849

A three-in-one-bullet for oesophageal cancer: replication fork collapse, spindle attachment failure and enhanced radiosensitivity generated by a ruthenium(II) metallo-intercalator

M. R. Gill, P. J. Jarman, S. Halder, M. G. Walker, H. K. Saeed, J. A. Thomas, C. Smythe, K. Ramadan and K. A. Vallis, Chem. Sci., 2018, 9, 841 DOI: 10.1039/C7SC03712K

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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