Publication details
The cytotoxic effect of newly synthesized ferrocenes against cervical carcinoma cells and their combination with radiotherapy
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| Year of publication | 2018 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
| Citation | |
| Description | Cervical carcinoma is the fourth most common cancer diagnosed in women worldwide. The widespread use of cervical screening programs along with vaccination against the most common HPVs has significantly reduced rates of cervical carcinoma. Despite that, it was estimated that cervical cancer is newly diagnosed in more than half a million women worldwide annually and causes approximately quarter of the million deaths (1). Surgery is commonly used as the first option for patients with early stage cancers. In advanced tumors, curative radiotherapy combined with platinum based chemotherapy represents the treatment of choice. This combination improves local control and overall survival (2, 3). Although cisplatin along with other platinum substances are widely used, they also show significant limiting properties such as development of resistance and serious negative side effects such as nephrotoxicity and neurotoxicity. For this reason, we focused on development of new organometallic compounds, which would replace highly toxic platinum derivatives. In our research a panel of new ferrocene based compounds (4, 5) which carry saturated nitrogen-containing five- and six-membered nitrogen-containing heterocycles was synthesized and tested on cytotoxicity towards cell lines derived from cervical carcinomas. The cytotoxic substances selected by this way were further tested in combination with irradiation in order to imitate standard treatment. Clear changes in the cell cycle and cell signaling pathways were observed after combined treatment indicating promising antitumor activity of several studied substances in combination with radiotherapy. Further examination of selected compounds and their synergistic action with ionizing radiation may result in clinically useful treatment combinations. |