Investigation of Biological Effects of New Tetrazole Compounds on Cancer Cell Lines (HeLa, MCF-7) and Common Microorganisms (Staphylococcus Aureus, Escherichia Coli, Candida Albicans)

Tetrazole compounds have various effects such as antiviral, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, anti-inflammatory, anticonvulsant and anti-cancer effects. To introduce new therapeutic options, we examined the biological effects of several newly synthesized tetrazoles in order to address the lack of effectiveness and the incidence of drug resistance.

Pre-synthesized tetrazole compounds were solubilized in appropriate solvent and then cytotoxic at concentrations of 0.1, 0.01 and 0.001 mM on HeLa and MCF-7 cell lines using MTT assay. The antimicrobial activity of these compounds was determined by the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) values of the compounds.

Evaluation of studied compounds showed significant toxicity against HeLa and MCF-7 cell lines. On the other hand, all compounds except compounds 5 and 6 that had methyl and aldehyde groups respectively, showed good antimicrobial activity against selected microorganisms.

Results of cytotoxic studies performed on the HeLa cell line shows that none of the compounds could reduce the percentage of living cells below 50% after 48 hours, while within 72 hours, all compounds except 1 and 2 (respectively with methoxy and hydroxyl groups) were reduced cell viability below 50. In the study of antimicrobial effects, 1, 2, 3 and 4 showed 0.04 µM and 0.1 mM for MIC and MBC, respectively, which illustrated relatively proper antibacterial effects against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli and antifungal effect against Candida albicans.