Acridine compounds are being widely researched as potential cancer therapeutics. We have tested several different compounds, some have been previously reported as well as some that are newly synthesized, on A549 (lung) cancer cell line, PC3 (prostate) cancer cell line, and BT5 (breast) cancer cell line. An MTS assay, a colorimetric procedure, was used to measure cell viability at 48 hours after dosing with 50uM concentration of the compounds. Confocal microscopy was used to count nuclei, visualize morphological changes, and image the inherent fluorescence of the most cytotoxic compound at 24 hours via DAPI staining. All compounds contained a chloride and an oxygen-methyl group attached to the base acridine structure, but the most potent also contained an alcohol group attached to the central nitrogen. Future studies are to evaluate possible molecular targets of the compounds inside the cells as well as test on other cancerous and non-cancerous cell lines.
