Potential antitumor effect of organochalcogenyl-benzoates in glioma cells

In the domain of brain malignancies, glioma, in particular the World Health Organization (WHO) Grade IV Glioblastoma, persists as having one of the worst prognoses in modern medicine. Despite the protocol leading to the convention of surgery with chemo-radiotherapy as the mainstay of treatment, mean survival rarely exceeds 18 months. In this work, we tested the antiglioma potential of three organochalcogenyl-benzoates containing an organoselenium group in their structure, obtained by chemical synthesis: 3-(phenylselanyl)prop-2-yn-1-yl nicotinate, 3-(phenylselanyl)benzoate)prop-2-yn-1-yl, and 3-((4-fluorophenyl)selanyl)prop-2-yn-1-yl benzoate. The tests were performed on a C6 rat glioblastoma cell line, which was treated with the compounds for different times (24, 48, and 72 hours) and concentrations (10-100 µM). After the treatments, MTT assays and cell counts were performed. All compounds showed cytotoxic effects, decreasing cell viability and the number of cells. For compound 3-((4-fluorophenyl)selanyl)prop-2-in-1-yl benzoate—which showed the most pronounced cytotoxic effects— analyses of cumulative population doubling, clonogenic ability, induction potential of senescence, and lipid peroxidation were performed. The compound was only able to induce a significant increase in lipid peroxidation, with no effect over the other parameters studied. The results presented here are unprecedented and promising, introducing new compounds with antitumor potential for glioma therapy.