Effetcs on melanoma cell growth of meso-tetra(4-sulfonatophenyl) porphinate derivatives

Studies in the field of melanoma are required to identify new molecular targets for effective anti-cancer agents. In this context, we regarded some meso-tetra(4 sulfonatophenyl) porphinate (TPPS4-) derivatives as potential anti-tumour drugs. The (Bu2Sn)2TPPS and the (Bu3Sn)4TPPS compounds studied in our laboratory trigger the melanoma cell apoptosis through the activation of MAPKs. The treatment of melanoma cells with lower concentrations of (Bu2Sn)2TPPS or of (Bu3Sn)4TPPS, 0.5 ?M and 0.08 ?M respectively, significantly reduces the growth of treated cells. We showed also a reduced amount of the ?-catenin as well as of the Myc proteins in melanoma cells treated with the concentrations as above of the (Bu2Sn)2TPPS and (Bu3Sn)4TPPS derivatives. The results obtained, suggested a role at all secondary for these compounds in the regression of the melanoma invasive-metastatic state. Moreover, we analysed some new TPPS derivatives such as (Me2Sn)2MnClTPPS, (Bu2Sn)2MnClTPPS, (Me3Sn)4MnClTPPS and (Bu3Sn)4MnClTPPS. The results obtained showed that 10 ?M of (Bu2Sn)2MnClTPPS and 1 ?M of (Bu3Sn)4MnClTPPS are clearly cytotoxic for melanoma cells. The DNA fragmentation analysis strongly suggested that these compounds induced the apoptotic death of treated melanoma cells. We also identified the concentrations of these compounds which reduce the growth of treated melanoma cells: 10 ?M for (Me3Sn)4MnClTPPS and 0.1 ?M both for (Bu2Sn)2MnClTPPS and for (Bu3Sn)4MnClTPPS.