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10-Alkylthiocolchicines have been obtained and characterized by spectroscopic methods and their biological activities as: cytotoxic, anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities have been tested. Cytotoxic activity against SKOV-3 ovarian cell line for 10-alkylthiocolchicine analogues was reported and tested compounds showed to be more active than commonly used doxorubicin. Some of tested C-10 alkylthiolated colchicines have been found to exhibit cytotoxicity at levels comparable to that of the natural product—colchicine. 10-Methylthiocolchicine has IC50 = 8 nM and 10-ethylthiocolchicine has IC50 = 47 nM in comparison to colchicine IC50 = 37 nM. Moreover for 10-alkylthioderivatives apoptosis test, cyclin B1 and cell cycle tests were performed. 10-n-Butylthiocolchicine was tested for anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities it showed to produce analgesic rather than anti-inflammatory effect.

A series of new semi-synthetic 7-deacetyl-10-alkylthiocolchicne derivatives with ethyl, n-propyl, i-propyl and n-butyl substituents were synthesised and characterised by spectroscopic methods, elemental analysis, DFT calculations and molecular docking simulations. All the synthesized compounds have been tested for fungicidal and anticancer activities against SKOV-3, LoVo, MCF-7, MDA-MB-231 and the lung-derived fibroblast CCD39Lu. All the new colchicine derivatives exhibit significantly higher cytotoxicity towards the SKOV-3 tumour cell line than the natural product – colchicine. The most effective cytotoxic agents were 7-deacetyl-10-n-buthylthiocolchicine and 7-deacetyl-10-i-propylthiocolchicine. Among all the compounds tested, 7-deacetyl-10-n-buthylthiocolchicine exhibited the highest fungicidal activity. Molecular modeling indicated that several mutations found in the β-tubulin unit of the tested fungal strains are crucial for antifungal activity and selectivity of 7-deacetyl-10-n-buthylthiocolchicine. The obtained results may be useful for the development of selective colchicine derivatives as effective fungicidal and/or anticancer drugs.

Thiocolchicine (10-methylthiocolchicine) is a semi-synthetic alkaloid with notable cytotoxic activity. Complexes of 10-methylthiocolchicine with Li+, Na+, K+, Rb+ and Cs+ monovalent cations of perchlorates and iodides have been obtained and characterized by spectroscopic methods, semi-empirical studies and molecular modelling. An explanation of the chemical nature of complexes formed between this alkaloid and monovalent metal cations of perchlorate and iodide salts which are present in human daily life is important. Their activities as cytotoxic and antifungal agents were also tested against the SKOV-3 cancer cell line and for eight selected microfungi species, respectively. Biological tests indicated no antifungal properties for 10-methylthiocolchicine. Complexation of 10-methylthiocolchicine with monovalent metal cations significantly improved the anticancer potency (~IC50 = 4 nM) against the SKOV-3 cancer cell line.

Complexes of colchiceine with monovalent cation perchlorates and iodides have been obtained and characterized by spectroscopic methods. DFT and spectroscopic studies reveal that the dihedral angle ω1-1a-12-12a , crucial for colchicine biological mechanism of action, that is, binding to tubulins depends on the diameter of the complexed metal cation. Biological tests indicated no antifungal properties of colchicine (it was active only toward A.pullulans), in contrast to its derivative-(colchiceine). Complexation of colchiceine with metal cations improved significantly the antifungal potency, even below MIC

Semi-synthetic C-10 alkyl thio analogues of the cytotoxic natural alkaloid colchicine have been found to exhibit cytotoxicity towards tumour cell lines at levels comparable to that of the natural product. An efficient synthesis of 10-alkyl thiocolchicines in mild conditions is proposed and the products are studied by H and C NMR, FT-IR, MS-EI methods and elementary analysis. The crystal structure of 10-ethylthiocolchicine is characterised using X-ray diffraction methods. Cytotoxic activity against selected cancer cell lines for all obtained 10-alkylthio analogues of colchicine is also reported.

The cytotoxic activity of DMU-212 has been shown to vary in cell lines derived from the same type of cancer, i.e. ovarian, breast and colorectal ones. However, the molecular mechanism of DMU-212 cytotoxicity has not been clarified in colon cancer cells. This study aims to elucidate the mechanism of antitumor effects of DMU-212 in two human colon cancer cell lines, DLD-1 and LOVO. We showed the stronger cytotoxic activity in DLD-1 cells in which DMU-212 evoked a greater pro-apoptotic effect as compared to that of LOVO cells. The analysis of the expression pattern of 84 apoptosis-related genes indicated transcripts specific to the mitochondria-mediated apoptosis pathway in both colon cancer cell lines used. We found that DMU-212 caused up-regulation of pro-apoptotic Bak1, Bok, Bik, Noxa, Bad, Bax, p53 and Apaf1 transcripts level in DLD-1 cell line, whereas anti-apoptotic Bcl-2, Bcl-xL and Bag1 mRNA expression was decreased. Changes in apoptosis-related genes expression were less pronounced in LOVO cells which did not express CYP1B1 protein and showed lower expression of CYP1A1 protein level than that in DLD-1 cells. Our results suggest that anticancer activity of DMU-212 is closely related to its biotransformation catalysed by these cytochrome P450 isoenzymes.

In the screening studies, cytotoxicity of 12 methylated resveratrol analogues on 11 human cancer cell lines was examined. The most active compound 3,4,4′5-tetramethoxystilbene (DMU-212) and two ovarian cancer cell lines A-2780 (IC 50 = 0.71 μM) and SKOV-3 (IC 50 = 11.51 μM) were selected for further investigation. To determine the mechanism of DMU-212 cytotoxicity, its ability to induce apoptosis was examined. DMU-212 arrested cell cycle in the G2/M or G0/G1 phase which resulted in apoptosis of both cell lines. The expression level of 84 apoptosis-related genes was investigated. In SKOV-3 cells DMU-212 caused up-regulation of pro-apoptotic Bax, Apaf-1 and p53 genes, specific to intrinsic pathway of apoptosis, and a decrease in Bcl-2 and Bcl 2110 mRNA expressions. Conversely, in A-2780 cells an increased expression of pro-apoptotic genes Fas, FasL, TNF, TNFRSF10A, TNFRSF21, TNFRSF16 specific to extracellular mechanism of apoptosis was observed. There are no data published so far regarding the receptor mediated apoptosis induced by DMU-212. The activation of caspase-3/7 was correlated with decreased TRAF-1 and BIRC-2 expression level in A-2780 cells exposed to DMU-212. DMU-212 caused a decrease in CYP1A1 and CYP1B1 mRNA levels in A-2780 by 50% and 75%, and in SKOV-3 cells by 15% and 45%, respectively. The protein expression was also reduced in both cell lines. It is noteworthy that the expression of CYP1B1 protein was entirely inhibited in A-2780 cells treated with DMU-212. It can be suggested that different CYP1B1 expression patterns in either ovarian cell line may affect their sensitivity to cytotoxic activity of DMU-212.