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In this work, we present a recently developed ruthenium complex that shows anticancer activity in gallbladder cancer cells. After the synthesis of the new ruthenium complexes, the antiproliferative, cytotoxicity, and apoptosis activities were evaluated in vitro by the triple assay ApoTox-Glo. Then, the transcription levels of genes related to apoptosis were evaluated by real-time PCR (q-PCR). The ruthenium complex, called Ru-UCN3, inhibits the proliferation of gallbladder cancer cells G-415 by means of apoptosis, which was demonstrated by the overexpression of the pro-apoptotic genes Puma, Diablo, and Caspasa-9 together with the repression of the anti-apoptotic genes Bcl-xL and Bcl-2. In addition, we found strong caspase 3/7 activity in the cells at 24 h of the Ru-UCN3 exposure, which was evaluated by the triple ApoTox-Glo assay. The new ruthenium complexes evaluated had an inhibitory effect on G-415 cells. We think that Ru-UCN3 could be a promising anticancer agent, which should be explored with more in vitro and in vivo assays and probably with the chemical modulation of this molecule.

Some metals with striking properties have been used for the development of different complexes with activity against malignant cells. Due to difficulties in early diagnosis of gallbladder cancer (GBC) the main treatment option is chemotherapy. In this line of research, ruthenium complexes represent a less toxic alternative that others metal complexes such as cisplatin. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of a novel ruthenium complex in activation of apoptosis in a cell lineG-415. Our results show an activity of inducing cell death and over-expression of pro-apoptotic transcripts.