Fluorinated triphenylphosphonium analogs improve cell selectivity and in vivo detection of mito-metformin. iScience 2022 Dec 22;25(12):105670
Date
12/27/2022Pubmed ID
36567718Pubmed Central ID
PMC9768319DOI
10.1016/j.isci.2022.105670Scopus ID
2-s2.0-85143723525 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 5 CitationsAbstract
Triphenylphosphonium (TPP+) conjugated compounds selectively target cancer cells by exploiting their hyperpolarized mitochondrial membrane potential. To date, studies have focused on modifying either the linker or the cargo of TPP+-conjugated compounds. Here, we investigated the biological effects of direct modification to TPP+ to improve the efficacy and detection of mito-metformin (MMe), a TPP+-conjugated probe we have shown to have promising preclinical efficacy against solid cancer cells. We designed, synthesized, and tested trifluoromethyl and methoxy MMe analogs (pCF3-MMe, mCF3-MMe, and pMeO-MMe) against multiple distinct human cancer cells. pCF3-MMe showed enhanced selectivity toward cancer cells compared to MMe, while retaining the same signaling mechanism. Importantly, pCF3-MMe allowed quantitative monitoring of cellular accumulation via 19F-NMR in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, adding trifluoromethyl groups to TPP+ reduced toxicity in vivo while retaining anti-tumor efficacy, opening an avenue to de-risk these next-generation TPP+-conjugated compounds.
Author List
AbuEid M, Keyes RF, McAllister D, Peterson F, Kadamberi IP, Sprague DJ, Chaluvally-Raghavan P, Smith BC, Dwinell MBAuthors
Pradeep Chaluvally-Raghavan PhD Associate Professor in the Obstetrics and Gynecology department at Medical College of WisconsinMichael B. Dwinell PhD Director, Professor in the Microbiology and Immunology department at Medical College of Wisconsin
Robert Keyes PhD Research Scientist II in the Biochemistry department at Medical College of Wisconsin
Brian C. Smith PhD Associate Professor in the Biochemistry department at Medical College of Wisconsin
Daniel J. Sprague PhD Postdoctoral Fellow in the Cell Biology, Neurobiology and Anatomy department at Medical College of Wisconsin
