Cisplatin has been a successful drug in oncology for decades. Its use is however limited by toxicity and development of resistance. Efforts for improvement by screening a large number of different platinum compounds have only yielded to new drugs to the clinic, oxaloplatin and carboplatin. An alternative approach is therefore to explore the potential of other metal-containing compounds. The toxic properties of organic tin compounds have been exploited in industry for a long time. More recently such compounds have been studied for potential therapeutic cytotoxic effects yielding promising results. Here we describe the first screening of two novel organotin compounds, based on the same basic structure, containing bromide (SNO7) or chloride (SNO8). The compounds are being screened against the following cancer cell lines: T47-D (breast), A549 (lung), OVCAR-3 (ovarian), Aspc-1 (pancreatic). IC50 was determined from survival analysis by Crystal violet, and induction of apoptosis by Annexin V staining, monitored by IncuCyte. Cisplatin was used as reference. IC50 values (µg/ml) for T47-D and Aspc-1 were, respectively: 44.5 and 13.8 (SNO7), 13.4 and 26.3 (SNO8) and 34.9 and 34.5 (Cisplatin). SNO7 induced apoptosis starting after 24 hours in OVCAR-3 and A549 at 10 µg/ml and also T47-D at 25 µg/ml; SNO8 in T47-D at 25 µg/ml (OVCAR-3 and A549 not tested) and Cisplatin in OVCAR-3 at 10 µg/ml (A549 not tested). These early results indicate differences in sensitivities between compounds and cell lines implying some specificity in mode of action and suggest that tin-containing compounds could be active against cancer cells that are resistant to cisplatin.

Citation Format: Paulina Cherek, Michaela Balogova, Krishna Damodaran, Helga M. Ögmundsdottir. Cytotoxic activity of novel organotin compounds against different cancer cell lines [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 2807.