Gliomas are the most common type of primary brain tumors, presenting high mortality and recurrence rates that highlight the need for the development of more efficient therapies. In that context, we investigated iron(III) (FeL) and copper(II) (CuL) complexes containing the tetradentate ligand 2-{[(3-chloro-2-hydroxy-propyl)-pyridin-2-ylmethyl-amino]-methyl}-phenol (L) as potential antimetastatic compounds in glioma cells. These complexes were designed to act as mimetics of antioxidant metalloenzymes (catalases and superoxide dismutase) and thus interfere with the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), important signaling molecules that have been linked to the induction of Epithelial–Mesenchymal Transition (EMT) in cancer cells, a process associated with cancer invasion and aggressiveness. The results obtained have revealed that, in vitro, both compounds act as superoxide dismutase or catalase mimetics, and this translated in glioma cells into a decrease in ROS levels in FeL-treated cells. In addition, both complexes were found to inhibit the migration of monolayer-grown H4 cells and lead to decreased expression of EMT markers. More importantly, this behavior was recapitulated in 3D spheroids models, where CuL in particular was found to completely inhibit the invasion ability of glioma cells, with or without cellular irradiation with X-rays, which is suggestive of these compounds' potential to be used in combination with radiotherapy. Overall, the results herein obtained describe the novel use of these complexes as agents that are able to interfere with regulation of EMT and the invasive behavior of glioma cells, an application that deserves to be further explored.

Ether lipids are compounds present in many living organisms including humans that feature an ether bond linkage at the sn-1 position of the glycerol. This class of lipids features singular structural roles and biological functions. Alkyl ether lipids and alkenyl ether lipids (also identified as plasmalogens) correspond to the two sub-classes of naturally occurring ether lipids. In 1979 the discovery of the structure of the platelet-activating factor (PAF) that belongs to the alkyl ether class of lipids increased the interest in these bioactive lipids and further promoted the synthesis of non-natural ether lipids that was initiated in the late 60’s with the development of edelfosine (an anticancer drug). More recently, ohmline, a glyco glycero ether lipid that modulates selectively SK3 ion channels and reduces in vivo the occurrence of bone metastases, and other glyco glycero ether also identified as GAEL (glycosylated antitumor ether lipids) that exhibit promising anticancer properties renew the interest in this class of compounds. Indeed, ether lipid represent a new and promising class of compounds featuring the capacity to modulate selectively the activity of some membrane proteins or, for other compounds, feature antiproliferative properties via an original mechanism of action. The increasing interest in studying ether lipids for fundamental and applied researches invited to review the methodologies developed to prepare ether lipids. In this review we focus on the synthetic method used for the preparation of alkyl ether lipids either naturally occurring ether lipids (e.g., PAF) or synthetic derivatives that were developed to study their biological properties. The synthesis of neutral or charged ether lipids are reported with the aim to assemble in this review the most frequently used methodologies to prepare this specific class of compounds.

Due to the extensive application of porphyrins today, this paper aims to present a short review on the synthesis of the first and principal methodologies and compares their yields and reaction conditions. It should be noted that these methodologies were the precursors to the development of numerous syntheses of porphyrins.

La toxoplasmose est une maladie négligée, avec une prévalence au niveau mondial estimée à un tiers de la population. Les recherches en chimie médicinale cherchent, depuis quelques années, à développer de nouveaux médicaments contre la toxoplasmose, car les traitements actuels provoquent des effets secondaires graves pour les patients. L’utilisation des thiosemicarbazones a été proposée, dans la littérature de ces dernières années, comme une alternative pour le traitement de plusieurs maladies, car elles présentent des activités antitumorales, antimalariales, antitripanosomales, antibactériennes et antitoxoplasmosiques, cette dernière constituant le cadre du présent travail, qui repose sur des analyses biologiques et des études concernant la réponse de Toxoplasma gondii aux thiosemicarbazones.