Novel triazole analogs of apigenin‑7‑methyl ether exhibit potent antitumor activity against ovarian carcinoma cells via the induction of mitochondrial‑mediated apoptosis

Qi,Yuyan; Ding,Zhaoxia; Yao,Yushuang; Ma,Dehua; Ren,Feifei; Yang,Hongjuan; Chen,Aiping

doi:10.3892/etm.2018.7138

Novel triazole analogs of apigenin‑7‑methyl ether exhibit potent antitumor activity against ovarian carcinoma cells via the induction of mitochondrial‑mediated apoptosis

Authors:
- Yuyan Qi
- Zhaoxia Ding
- Yushuang Yao
- Dehua Ma
- Feifei Ren
- Hongjuan Yang
- Aiping Chen
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Affiliations: Department of Gynecology, The Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong 266000, P.R. China, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The Affiliated Hospital of Taishan Medical University, Taian, Shandong 271000, P.R. China
Published online on: December 28, 2018 https://doi.org/10.3892/etm.2018.7138
Pages: 1670-1676
Copyright: © Qi et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License.

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Abstract

Ovarian cancer is one of the main causes of cancer-associated mortality across the world. Currently, ovarian cancer is mainly treated with chemotherapy. However, ovarian cancer is detected at advanced stages and chemotherapy has numerous side effects. In addition, the results of current chemotherapy on the treatment of ovarian cancer are less than satisfactory. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop novel and more viable chemotherapeutic agents that can be used to treat ovarian cancer. The present study was designed to synthesize a series of novel triazole analogs of the bioactive apigenin‑7‑methyl ether to evaluate its anticancer activity against three human ovarian cancer cell lines. A total of eight novel triazole derivatives were synthesized and screened for their anticancer activity. Of all the derivatives, a derivative named 3d exhibited significant and dose‑dependent anticancer activity against the SKOV3 ovarian cancer cell line. The IC50 of 3d was found to be 10 µM against the SKOV3 cancer cell line. It was also observed that 3d induced apoptosis in SKOV3 cancer cells through the accretion of reactive oxygen species and reduction in mitochondrial membrane potential. The molecule also modulated the expression of B‑cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl‑2) and Bcl‑2‑associated X protein. Taken together, these results showed that the apigenein‑7‑methyl ether novel derivative 3d may prove an important lead molecule for the treatment of ovarian cancer.

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