Vanadium Complexes with Maltol and Deferiprone Ligands: Synthesis, Characterization and In vitro Antiproliferative Activity toward Different Cancer Cells

In a systematic effort to identify a potent antiproliferative agent, four complexes of vanadium containing maltol and deferiprone ligands were synthesized and evaluated for their cytotoxic activity against five human and animal cancer cell lines, including human breast cancer cells (MCF-7), human cervix epithelial carcinoma (HeLa), human colon cancer cell line (HT-29), human leukemia cell line (K-562), and mouse neuroblastoma cell line (Neuro-2a) using cisplatin as a comparative standard by the MTT assay. The results revealed that the vanadium complexes induce apoptosis in cancer cell lines. The flow cytometry results confirmed that complex 4 exhibits a high population of apoptotic cells (65.8%) and 2-fold higher than cisplatin (32.1%) at the same concentration and induces apoptosis of K-562 cancer cells.