In vitro and in vivo antitumor effects of the VO-chrysin complex on a new three-dimensional osteosarcoma spheroids model and a xenograft tumor in mice

Abstract

Osteosarcoma (OS) is the most common primary tumor of bone, occurring predominantlyin the second decade of life. High-dose cytotoxic chemotherapy and surgical resection haveimproved prognosis, with long-term survival for patients with localized disease.Vanadium is an ultra-trace element that after being absorbed accumulates in bone. Besides,vanadium compounds have been studied during recent years to be considered asrepresentative of a new class of non-platinum antitumor agents. Moreover, flavonoids are awide family of polyphenolic compounds that display many interesting biological effects.Since coordination of ligands to metals can improve the pharmacological properties, wereport herein, for the first time, the in vitro and in vivo effects of an oxidovanadium(IV)complex with the flavonoid chrysin on the new 3D human osteosarcoma and xenograftosteosarcoma mice models. The pharmacological results show that VOchrys inhibited the cell viability affecting the shape and volume of the spheroids and VOchrys suppressed MG-63 tumor growth in the nude mice without inducing toxicity and side effects.As a whole, the results presented herein demonstrate that the antitumor action of thecomplex was very promissory on human osteosarcoma models, whereby suggesting thatVOchrys is a potentially good candidate for future use in alternative anti-tumor treatments.