Diphenyl Ditelluride: Redox-Modulating and Antiproliferative Properties

Abstract

Tellurium is a rare element that has been regarded as a toxic, nonessential element, and its biological role is not clearly established. In addition, the biological effects of elemental tellurium and some of its organic and inorganic derivatives have been studied, leading to a set of interesting and promising applications. Diphenyl ditelluride (DPDT), an organic tellurium derivate, showed antioxidant, antigenotoxic, antimutagenic, and anticancer properties. The antioxidant and prooxidant properties of DPDT are complex and depend on experimental conditions, which may explain the contradictory reports of these properties. In addition, DPDT may exert its effects through different pathways, including distinct ones to those responsible for chemotherapy resistance phenotypes: transcription factors, membrane receptors, adhesion, structural molecules, cell cycle regulatory components, and apoptosis pathways. This review aims to present recent advances in our understanding of the biological effects, therapeutic potential, and safety of DPDT treatment. Moreover, original results demonstrating the cytotoxic effects of DPDT in different mammalian cell lines and systems biology analysis are included, and emerging approaches for possible future applications are inferred.

New Chalcogen-Functionalized Naphthoquinones: Design, Synthesis, and Evaluation, In Vitro and In Silico, against Squamous Cell Carcinoma

“… 48 Selenium plays an important role in the cell cycle and apoptosis, but these mechanisms are extremely complex and have not yet been fully elucidated. 54 As for tellurium, studies evaluating its biological activity are still scarce, although antineoplastic effects from tellurium compounds are believed to be associated with ROS formation, cell cycle arrest, induction of programmed cell death, and may have immunomodulatory effects, 55 being a class of compounds with great potential to be explored for the development of new anticancer molecules. 56 In this work, we could observe biological activity from all synthesized chalcogen-naphthoquinones derived from both diorganoyl diselenides and diorganoyl ditellurides, with an impact on cell migration, proliferation, and overall survival in OSSC cells.…”

Diphenyl ditelluride anticancer activity and DNA topoisomerase I poisoning in human colon cancer HCT116 cells

“…The use of those drugs is however limited due to the emergence of resistance which requires novel approaches to overcome the underlying mechanisms [ 28 , 29 ]. In that sense, the cytotoxic potential of DPDT has been previously evaluated against several tumor cell models, such as CRC, gliomas, melanoma and promyelocytic leukemia cancer cells [ 22 ]. This compound was suggested to act as a putative TOP1 inhibitor in in vitro studies as well as in yeast models [ 20 ].…”

“…This compound was suggested to act as a putative TOP1 inhibitor in in vitro studies as well as in yeast models [ 20 ]. Several studies also reported genotoxic, mutagenic and pro-oxidant properties of DPDT in different biological models [ 22 , 25 ]. However, its precise mechanism of action against tumor cells has been to date poorly characterized.…”

Tellurium and Nano-Tellurium: Medicine or Poison?

“…Many studies have investigated the incorporation of Te into proteins and the possible biological role of chalcogenide metal nano-crystals derived from amino acid- and protein-bound Te forms, analogous to those of other sulfur-binding elements [ 77 , 103 , 104 , 105 , 106 ]. Organo-tellurium compounds have antioxidative, protective, or antiproliferative attributes in the cell system [ 107 , 108 , 109 ]. These organic Te compounds include hydroxyphenyl-telluride, aminophenyl-telluride, carboxyphenyl-telluride [ 107 ], diphenyl ditelluride [ 110 ], and thiophene-based organo-tellurium [ 109 ].…”