Cytotoxic activity of new acetoxycoumarin derivatives in cancer cell lines.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Coumarin and their derivatives are important and useful compounds with diverse pharmacological properties. In the present study, we evaluated the in vitro cytotoxic activity of new acetoxycoumarin derivatives 4-(7-methoxy-4-methyl-2-oxo-2H-chromen-3-yl)phenyl acetate (1), 4-(1-methyl-3-oxo-3H-benzo[f]chromen-2-yl)phenyl acetate (2), 4-(6-propionamido-4-methyl-2-oxo-2H-chromen-3-yl) phenyl acetate (3), 4-(7-acetoxy-2-oxo-4-phenyl-2H-chromen-3-yl)phenyl acetate (4), 4-(2-oxo-4-phenyl-2H-chromen-3-yl)phenyl acetate (5), 4-(6-bromo-2-oxo-4-phenyl-2H-chromen-3-yl)phenyl acetate (6), 4-(7-(diethylamino)-4-methyl-2-oxo-2H-chromen-3-yl)phenyl acetate (7), 4-(6,8-dibromo-4-methyl-2-oxo-2H-chromen-3-yl)phenyl acetate (8) against A549 human lung cancer, CRL 1548 rat liver cancer and CRL 1439 normal rat liver cells. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The cytotoxic activity was evaluated by crystal violet dye-binding assay. The effect of compounds 5 and 7 on different phases of the cell cycle was determined using flow cytometry. RESULTS: In the A549 lung cancer cell line, the 50% lethal dose (LD50) values for compounds 1-4, 6 and 8 were found to be >100 µM while those for 5 and 7 were 89.3 and 48.1 µM, respectively after 48 h treatment. In the CRL 1548 liver cancer cell line, only compound 7 showed toxicity, with an LD50 of 45.1 µM. Compounds 5 and 7 caused different cell phase arrest in lung and liver cancer cell lines. CONCLUSION: The results indicate that 4-(7-(diethylamino)-4-methyl-2-oxo-2H-chromen-3-yl)phenyl acetate (7) had the highest cytotoxic activity in all of the examined cell lines.