Probing photoprotection properties of lipophilic chain conjugated thiourea-aryl group molecules to attenuate ultraviolet-A induced cellular and DNA damages

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 12; no. 1; p. 20907
• Main Authors: Rana, Sobia, Fatima, Noor, Yaqoob, Sana, Hameed, Abdul, Mirza, Munazza Raza, Jabeen, Almas, Iqbal, Jamshed
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 03-12-2022; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 631/337; 631/80; Anti-inflammatory agents; Benzophenone; Cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers; Deoxyribonucleic acid; DNA; DNA Damage; Fibroblasts; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; IL-1β; Inflammation; Lipophilic; Monocytes; multidisciplinary; Nitric oxide; Pyrimidine Dimers; Reactive Oxygen Species; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Thiourea; Thiourea - pharmacology; Tumor necrosis factor-TNF; Tumor necrosis factor-α
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-25515-5

Ultraviolet-A (UVA) radiation is a major contributor to reactive oxygen species (ROS), reactive nitrite species (RNS), inflammation, and DNA damage, which causes photoaging and photocarcinogenesis. This study aimed to evaluate the UVA protective potential of lipophilic chain conjugated thiourea-substituted aryl group molecules against UVA-induced cellular damages in human dermal fibroblasts (BJ cell line). We tested a series of nineteen (19) molecules for UVA photoprotection, from which 2′,5′-dichlorophenyl-substituted molecule
DD-04
showed remarkable UVA protection properties compared to the reference (benzophenone). The results indicate that
DD-04
significantly reduced intracellular ROS and nitric oxide (NO) as compared to the UVA-irradiated control (
p
 < 0.001). Moreover, the compound
DD-04
showed anti-inflammatory activity as it significantly reduced the levels of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-1β (IL-1β) pro-inflammatory cytokines produced by THP-1 (human monocytic) cells (
p
 < 0.05). DNA damage was also prevented by
DD-04
treatment in the presence of UVA. It was observed that
DD-04
significantly reduced the number of cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers (CPDs) when compared to the UVA-irradiated control (
p
 < 0.001). Finally, the DNA strand breaks were checked and a single intact DNA band was seen upon treatment with
DD-04
in the presence of UVA. In conclusion,
DD-04
can be considered a potential candidate UVA filter due to its photoprotective potential.