Vanadium Compounds Mediated Apoptosis and Cell Cycle Arrest in K562 Cell Line

Compounds of heavy metals such as vanadium, nickel, and cobalt can be useful in treatment of many diseases. There are several reports on the biological effects of vanadium compounds including insulin-like action and reduction of hypertension. A number of studies on vanadium have shown its promising ability to inhibit cancers in a variety of malignant cell lines. The goal of this study was to examine the anti-proliferative and apoptosis-inducing characteristics of some newly synthesized shifft-based vanadium (VOLComplex:C19H20N2O5V) on K562 leukemia cells. The MTT results show that the K562 cells viability is sensitive to the Vol complex in a concentration dependent manner. It was evident that the VOL complexe, up to a dose of 350 µg/ml, were non-cytotoxic in vitro after 48 hours of incubation time. In order to investigate if the Vol complexe have just anticancer effect, we designed further studies with non-cytotoxic doses of the complex. Based on the cell viability data, the concentrations of 150, 250, and 350 µg/ml of the VOL complexe were selected to treat the K562 cells for 12, 24, and 48 hr to induce apoptosis. The results of apoptosis analysis and flow cytometric examination show that exposure of the K562 cells to non-cytotoxic dosses of the VOL complex leads to induction of apoptosis in a dose- and time-dependent manner. The highest level of apoptosis (37.96%) occurred after 48 hr of treatment in response to 350 µg/ml of the Vol complex. Moreover, the cell cycle analysis shows that the VOL complex induces a G0/G1 arrest. Our findings indicate that the Vol complex, even at a non-cytotoxic dose, has an apoptosis inducing effect, and that it is capable of arresting the affected cells in the G0/G1 phase of the cell cycle. Taken together, based on their role on induction of apoptosis and cell cycle arrest, VOL complexes may have the potential for being included in an anti-cancer drug discovery program in the near future.