Breast cancer (BC) is one of the most life-threatening diseases of women’s health worldwide. This work was conducted to assess the anti-BC potency of a new Zn(II)-based complex. The Zn(II) complex coordinated to dimethoxy-substituted bipyridine was synthesized and its molecular structure was elucidated as [Zn(
2Meo
bpy)
3
](clo
4
)
2
(
2Meo
bpy-Zn)
by single-crystal X-ray diffraction,
2Meo
bpy represents 4,4′-dimethoxy-2,2′-bipyridine. The cytotoxicity results indicated that
2Meo
bpy-Zn
, unlike cisplatin, acts potently and selectively on the human breast cancer cells (MCF-7) compared to normal murine embryo cells (NIH/3T3) by IC
50
value of 4.6 ± 0.5
µ
m and selectivity index (SI) of 2.0 over 48 h.
2Meo
bpy-Zn
and cisplatin showed anti-metastatic activity as evidenced by inhibition of the colony formation and cell migration. The flow cytometric assessment of MCF-7 cells supported that
2Meo
bpy-Zn
and cisplatin exert their cytotoxic effect through the apoptotic pathway. Moreover,
2Meo
bpy-Zn
could induce overproduction of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) in MCF-7 cells. The apoptotic mechanism in
2Meo
bpy-Zn
-treated MCF-7 cells is probably related to the regulation of apoptosis-relevant genes expression, including BAX and BCL2. Moreover,
2Meo
bpy-Zn
is able to cleave pUC19 plasmid DNA through the hydrolytic reaction pathway. Finally,
2Meo
bpy-Zn
’s affinity towards antiapoptosis-related proteins, as a potential apoptosis inducer, as well as breast cancer-relevant proteins, as a potential anti-BC agent, was evaluated by in silico molecular docking studies. Altogether, the results of this work strongly evidenced that
2Meo
bpy-Zn
can be the subject of experimental validation and clinical trials to introduce this complex as a promising BC therapeutic agent.
Supplementary Information
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1038/s41598-024-79644-0.