Rationally Designed Redox-Active Au(I) N-Heterocyclic Carbene: An Immunogenic Cell Death Inducer
Sajal Sen, Stephanie Hufnagel, Esther Y. Maier, Isaiah Aguilar, Jayaraman Selvakumar, Jennie E. DeVore, Vincent M. Lynch, Kuppuswamy Arumugam, Zhengrong Cui, Jonathan L. Sessler, Jonathan F. Arambula
Abstract
Immunogenic cell death (ICD) is a way of reengaging the tumor-specific immune system. ICD can be induced by treatment with chemotherapeutics. However, only a limited number of drugs and other treatment modalities have been shown to elicit the biomarker responses characteristic of ICD and to provide an anticancer benefit in vivo. Here, we report a rationally designed redox-active Au(I) bis-N-heterocyclic carbene that induces ICD both in vitro and in vivo. This work benefits from a synthetic pathway that allows for the facile preparation of asymmetric redox-active Au(I) bis-N-heterocyclic carbenes.