*3.3. Cell Culture and Antiproliferative Assay*

A2780 (ovarian carcinoma), A549 (lung carcinoma) and MDA-MB-231 (breast carcinoma) cells (all obtained from ICLC, Genova, Italy) were grown as monolayers in Roswell Park Memorial Institute (RPMI 1640) or Dulbecco's Modified Eagle's Medium (DMEM) media (EuroClone, Pero, Italy) supplemented with 10% fetal bovinum serum (FBS) (Euroclone), antibiotics (EuroClone), and non-essential amino-acids (only DMEM, EuroClone). For the assay, cells plated into flat-bottomed 96-well microtiter plates were treated after 6–8 h with the complexes (five 1:5 scalar solutions, 20 µL, starting from 1 µM concentration). Seventy-two hours later, cells were analysed by the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5 diphenyltetrazolium Bromide (MTT) assay as described elsewhere [33].

IC<sup>50</sup> values were calculated from the analysis of single concentration–response curves. Final values are the mean of 4–12 experiments.
