Investigation of the cytotoxic/apoptotic potential of new flavonoid derivatives: in vitro and in vivo studies

Abstract

Flavonoids are one of the most important and diversified groups of phenolic compounds of natural origin. Various biological activities, including their anti-tumor, antioxidant, antiviral and anti-inflammatory effects, are attributed to this class of polyphenols, endowing them with great pharmacological importance. This project sets out to evaluate new flavonoid compounds obtained from hesperidin, naringin and rutin and their aglycone structural correspondents by means of acylating (lipases) and deglycosilating (rhamnosidases and glycosidases) reactions, and particularly to evaluate: 1) their cytotoxic activity in vitro using lines of cancer cells: lung/NCI-H460; breast/MCF-7; ovary/OVCAR-3; resistant ovary/NCI-ADR/Res; colon/HT-29; prostate/PC-3; melanoma/UACC-62; renal/786-0 and leukemia/K-562; 2) their therapeutic activity in an animal model of human adenocarcinomas in athimic mice. The biotransformation reactions will be monitored by mass spectrometry (ESI-MS)). Immunohistochemistry will be used to evaluate the expression of the p53, ING2 and VEGF, quantifying the apoptotic response (p53) and the cellular proliferation (ING2) and angiogenesis (VEGF ) responses. The therapeutic effects will be assessed by cytotoxicity and flow cytometry tests. The working proposal is based on preliminary results obtained with bio-transformed flavonoids showing high antioxidant potential. The aim is to elucidate the characteristic structures within these compounds and their relation to their anti-cancer activity. The team is made up of researchers with wide experience in the fields of Pharmacology, Oncology and Foodstuffs as well as graduate and post-graduate students. The proposed bio-technological processes are unprecedented and may well give rise to new functional compounds and foster an expansion of knowledge on their structure/activity relationships and it action by heterologous transplantatios of colon adenocarcinoma in vivo. (AU)