Synthesis and Evaluation of Tetraarylethylene-based Mono-, Bis-, and Tris(pyridinium) Derivatives for Image-Guided Mitochondria-Specific Targeting and Cytotoxicity of Metastatic Melanoma Cells.

Metastatic melanoma is the most aggressive and lethal form of skin cancer. Emerging evidence suggests that differences in melanoma metabolism relative to nonmalignant cells represent potential targets for improved therapy for melanoma. Specifically, melanoma cells exhibit increased mitochondrial electron transport chain (ETC) activity and concomitant hyperpolarized mitochondrial membrane potential relative to nonmalignant cells. We have synthesized several new fluorescent lipophilic vinylpyridinium cations built from tetraarylethylene scaffolds that target mitochondria via attraction to the hyperpolarized mitochondrial membrane potential. Mitochondria-specific accumulation in melanoma cells relative to normal human fibroblasts was demonstrated using confocal fluorescence microscopy and resulted in the disruption of oxidative metabolism leading to melanoma specific cell death in vitro. Thus, the pyridinium tetraarylethylene platform represents a promising new mitochondrial-targeted delivery vehicle with potential imaging and therapeutic properties.

Triphenylphosphonium derivatives disrupt metabolism and inhibit melanoma growth in vivo when delivered via a thermosensitive hydrogel.

Despite dramatic improvements in outcomes arising from the introduction of targeted therapies and immunotherapies, metastatic melanoma is a highly resistant form of cancer with 5 year survival rates of <35%. Drug resistance is frequently reported to be associated with changes in oxidative metabolism that lead to malignancy that is non-responsive to current treatments. The current report demonstrates that triphenylphosphonium(TPP)-based lipophilic cations can be utilized to induce cytotoxicity in pre-clinical models of malignant melanoma by disrupting mitochondrial metabolism. In vitro experiments demonstrated that TPP-derivatives modified with aliphatic side chains accumulated in melanoma cell mitochondria; disrupted mitochondrial metabolism; led to increases in steady-state levels of reactive oxygen species; decreased total glutathione; increased the fraction of glutathione disulfide; and caused cell killing by a thiol-dependent process that could be rescued by N-acetylcysteine. Furthermore, TPP-derivative-induced melanoma toxicity was enhanced by glutathione depletion (using buthionine sulfoximine) as well as inhibition of thioredoxin reductase (using auranofin). In addition, there was a structure-activity relationship between the aliphatic side-chain length of TPP-derivatives (5-16 carbons), where longer carbon chains increased melanoma cell metabolic disruption and cell killing. In vivo bio-distribution experiments showed that intratumoral administration of a C14-TPP-derivative (12-carbon aliphatic chain), using a slow-release thermosensitive hydrogel as a delivery vehicle, localized the drug at the melanoma tumor site. There, it was observed to persist and decrease the growth rate of melanoma tumors. These results demonstrate that TPP-derivatives selectively induce thiol-dependent metabolic oxidative stress and cell killing in malignant melanoma and support the hypothesis that a hydrogel-based TPP-derivative delivery system could represent a therapeutic drug-delivery strategy for melanoma.