Eight disubstituted benzyltin complexes, i.e., {[R(O)C=N‐N=C (Me)COO]R'2Sn(CH3OH)}n (1a and 2b), {[R(O)C=N‐N=C (Me)COO]R'2Sn(CH3OH)}2 (1b and 1d) and {[R(O)C=N‐N=C (Me)COO]R'2Sn}n (1c, 2a, 2c, and 2d) (R = C4H3O‐, C4H3S‐, p–t‐Bu‐C6H4‐ or p‐MeO‐C6H4‐; R' = o‐Cl‐C6H4CH2‐ or o‐Me‐C6H4CH2‐), were prepared from the reaction of arylformylhydrazine, pyruvic acid and disubstituted benzyltin dichloride with microwave irradiation. All complexes were characterized by FT‐IR spectroscopy, 1H, 13C and 119Sn NMR spectroscopy, HRMS, elemental analysis, X‐ray single‐crystal diffraction and TGA. The in vitro antitumour activities of all complexes were evaluated by an MTT assay against three human cancer cell lines (NCI‐H460, HepG2, and MCF7). 2b exhibited strong antitumour activity on HepG2 cells and was expected to be a suitable platform for further chemical optimization to develop as anticancer therapeutics. The DNA binding of 2b was studied by UV–visible absorption spectrometry, fluorescence competitive assays, viscosity measurements and gel electrophoresis. Molecular docking was used to predict the binding between 2b and DNA, and the results show that 2b can become embedded in the double helix of DNA and cleave DNA.

Gastric cancer is the fourth most common type of malignant tumor, with a poor prognosis. Focal adhesion kinase (FAK) mediates the crosslink of intracellular signaling networks, playing a key role in cell migration and invasion. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of FAK interference on the proliferation ability, invasion and metastasis of gastric cancer cells. The FAK-RNAi lentiviral vector was infected into SGC7901 gastric cancer cells in order to observe the in vivo situations of tumor growth and metastasis before and after the FAK interference. The growth of SGC7901 gastric cancer cells in the interference group was significantly inhibited compared with that of the negative control (P<0.05) and the blank control groups (P<0.05), and the FAK expression significantly decreased (P<0.05). The in vitro invasion and metastasis experiments showed that the cell invasion and metastasis abilities of the interference group significantly decreased when compared with those of the negative control (P<0.05) and blank control groups (P<0.05). In the nude mouse subcutaneous tumor transplantation model, the mean ± standard deviation tumor weight of the interference group (1.474±0.9840 g) was lower than that of the negative control (3.134±0.3299 g) and blank control (2.68±0.12 g) groups (P<0.05). In the nude mice, the liver and peritoneal metastasis rates of the interference group were significantly lower than those of the negative control (P<0.05) and the blank control groups (P<0.05), and the FAK mRNA of the interference group significantly reduced (P<0.05). In conclusion, FAK interference could effectively suppress the proliferation, invasion and metastasis of transfected SGC7901 gastric cancer cells, and could inhibit the growth and distant metastasis of gastric cancer in nude mice.