A newly synthesized thiosemicarbazide derivative trigger apoptosis rather than necroptosis on HEPG2 cell line.

Thiosemicarbazide derivatives have been the focus of scientists owing to their broad biological activities such as anticancer, antimicrobial, and anti-inflammatory. Herein, we designed and synthesized a new thiosemicarbazide derivative (TS-1) and evaluated its antiproliferative potential against the human hepatocellular carcinoma cell line (HEPG2) and human umbilical vein endothelial cell line (ECV-304). Also, it was aimed to investigate the necroptotic and apoptotic cell death effects of TS-1 in HEPG2 cells, and these effects were supported by molecular docking. The new synthesized compound structure was characterized using various spectroscopic methods such as FT-IR, 1 H-NMR, 13 C-NMR, and elemental analysis. The cytotoxic activity of the tested compound was measured by the MTT assay. Apoptotic and necroptotic properties of the TS-1 were evaluated by indirect immunoperoxidase method using antibodies against Ki-67, Bax, Bcl-2, caspase-3, caspase-8, caspase-9, RIP3, and RIPK1. Apoptotic and necroptotic effects of TS-1 were supported by molecular docking. Compound TS-1 was synthesized as a pure compound with a high yield. The effective value of TS-1 was 10 µM in HEPG2 cells. TS-1 did not show any cytotoxic effect on ECV-304. Caspase-3 and RIPK1 immunoreactivities were significantly increased in HEPG2 cells after being treated with TS-1. As the results of the molecular docking studies, the molecular docking showed that the TS-1 exhibits H-bond interaction with various significant amino acid residues in the active site of both RIPK1. It could be concluded that TS-1 could be a promising novel therapeutic agent by inducing apoptosis rather than necroptosis in HEPG2 cells.