Abstract
Rhenium compounds have shown anti-cancer properties against many different types of cancer cell lines; however, the cellular signaling mechanisms involved in the cytotoxic properties of rhenium-based compounds were never deciphered or reported. In this manuscript, we report the results of an investigation done by RNA sequencing of rhenium treated A549 lung cancer cell lines along with an untreated vehicular control, analyzed by the Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) software system to decipher the core canonical pathways involved in rhenium induced cancer cell death. A549 EMT lung cancer cell lines were treated with rhenium ligand (Tricarbonylperrhenato(bathocuproine)rhenium(I), PR7) for seven days along with vehicular control. RNA was isolated from the treated and control cells and sequenced by a commercial company (PrimBio Corporation). The RNA sequencing data was analyzed by the INGNUITY software system and the core canonical pathways involved with differential gene expression were identified. Our report is showing that there are several cellular pathways involved in inducing cell death by rhenium-based compound PR7.