Synthesis and cytotoxic studies of novel azo-Schiff base derivatives against Hela and MCF7 cell lines

Abstract

A new azo-Schiff base derivative compounds have been synthesized and characterized by FTIR, ¹HNMR, ¹³CNMR and elemental analysis techniques. The azo-Schiff base compounds were evaluated for their cytotoxicity against human epithelial breast adenocarcinoma (MCF7) and human epithelial cervix adenocarcinoma (HeLa) cell lines using the MTT assay. Compound 4a exhibited potent in vitro antiproliferative activity with IC₅₀ 120.0 and 140.8 μM against HeLa and MCF7 cell lines, respectively. As a result of the cell migration study, compound 4a achieved 38%, recovery in HeLa cells at 48 hours and 59% in MCF7 cells at 48 hours. Compound 4b achieved 12% recovery in HeLa cells at 48 hours and 49% in MCF7 cells at 48 hours. Apoptosis analysis studies show that the synthesized compounds (4a-b) can induce apoptosis in the HeLa and MCF7 cells.

Graphical Abstract

The IC₅₀ dose of compound 4a was found to be 120.0 µL in the HeLa cell line and 140.8 µL in the MCF7 cell line. Furthermore, it has also been observed that compounds 4a and 4b can increase the apoptotic effect in both cell lines significantly compared with control group.