{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,30]],"date-time":"2026-09-30T00:54:32Z","timestamp":1790729672324,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":48,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"11","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,5,26]],"date-time":"2021-05-26T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1621987200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100009873","name":"Regione Autonoma della Sardegna","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["BiCoMe development agreement"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["BiCoMe development agreement"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100009873","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Fase 1 SRL","award":["BiCoMe development agreement"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["BiCoMe development agreement"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJMS"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, is still one of the most difficult cancers to treat despite recent advances in targeted and immune therapies. About 50% of advanced melanoma do not benefit of such therapies, and novel treatments are requested. Curcumin and its analogs have shown good anticancer properties and are being considered for use in combination with or sequence to recent therapies to improve patient outcomes. Our group previously published the synthesis and anticancer activity characterization of a novel curcumin-related compound against melanoma and neuroblastoma cells (D6). Here, two hydroxylated biphenyl compounds\u2014namely, compounds 11 and 12\u2014were selected among a small collection of previously screened C2-symmetric hydroxylated biphenyls structurally related to D6 and curcumin, showing the best antitumor potentiality against melanoma cells (IC50 values of 1.7 \u00b1 0.5 \u03bcM for 11 and 2.0 \u00b1 0.7 \u03bcM for 12) and no toxicity of normal fibroblasts up to 32 \u00b5M. Their antiproliferative activity was deeply characterized on five melanoma cell lines by performing dose-response and clonal growth inhibition assays, which revealed long-lasting and irreversible effects for both compounds. Apoptosis induction was ascertained by the annexin V and TUNEL assays, whereas Western blotting showed caspase activation and PARP cleavage. A cell cycle analysis, following cell treatments with either compound 11 or 12, highlighted an arrest in the G2\/M transition. Taking all this evidence together, 11 and 12 were shown to be good candidates as lead compounds to develop new anticancer drugs against malignant melanoma.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijms22115636","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,5,26]],"date-time":"2021-05-26T10:30:32Z","timestamp":1622025032000},"page":"5636","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":19,"title":["Anticancer Activity of Two Novel Hydroxylated Biphenyl Compounds toward Malignant Melanoma Cells"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"22","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0649-1010","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Marina","family":"Pisano","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute for Genetic and Biomedical Research (IRGB), National Research Council of Italy (CNR), Traversa la Crucca 3, 07100 Sassari, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8776-9271","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Maria Antonietta","family":"Dettori","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Biomolecular Chemistry (ICB), National Research Council of Italy (CNR), Traversa la Crucca 3, 07100 Sassari, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Davide","family":"Fabbri","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Biomolecular Chemistry (ICB), National Research Council of Italy (CNR), Traversa la Crucca 3, 07100 Sassari, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Giovanna","family":"Delogu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Biomolecular Chemistry (ICB), National Research Council of Italy (CNR), Traversa la Crucca 3, 07100 Sassari, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Giuseppe","family":"Palmieri","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute for Genetic and Biomedical Research (IRGB), National Research Council of Italy (CNR), Traversa la Crucca 3, 07100 Sassari, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6581-2227","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Carla","family":"Rozzo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute for Genetic and Biomedical Research (IRGB), National Research Council of Italy (CNR), Traversa la Crucca 3, 07100 Sassari, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,5,26]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"17","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-319-22539-5_2","article-title":"Melanoma Epidemiology and Prevention","volume":"Volume 167","author":"Kaufman","year":"2016","journal-title":"Melanoma. 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