Evaluation of Cytotoxic Potentials of Novel Cyclooxygenase-2 Inhibitor against ALL Lymphocytes and Normal Lymphocytes and Its Anticancer Effect through Mitochondrial Pathway

Abstract

In the present study, we searched selective cytotoxicity and mitochondria mediated apoptosis of novel COX-2 inhibitor 2-(4-(Methylsulfonyl)phenyl)imidazo[1,2-a] pyridine-8-carboxylic acid on B-lymphocytes and their mitochondria isolated from normal subjects and acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) patients’ blood. Our results showed this compound can selectively induce cellular and mitochondrial toxicity on ALL B-lymphocytes and mitochondria without any toxic effects on normal B-lymphocytes and their mitochondria. Taken together, the results of this study suggest that cancerous mitochondria are a potential target for the ALL B-lymphocytes. Selective toxicity of COX-2 inhibitor in cancerous mitochondria could be an attractive therapeutic option for the effective clinical management of therapy-resistant ALL.

Keywords:

• Acute lymphoblastic leukemia
• cyclooxygenase-2
• COX-2 inhibitor
• mitochondria

Acknowledgments

The data provided in this article were extracted from the PhD thesis of Dr. Marjan Aghvami. The thesis was conducted under supervision of Prof. Jalal Pourahmad and Prof. Afshin Zarghi at Faculty of Pharmacy, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Deputy of Research.