Current applications and future potential for bioinorganic chemistry in the development of anticancer drugs

Abstract

This review illustrates notable recent progress in the field of medicinal bioinorganic chemistry with many new approaches to the design of innovative metal-based anticancer drugs emerging. Current research addressing the problems associated with platinum drugs has focused on other metal-based therapeutics that have different modes of action, and on prodrug and targeting strategies in an effort to diminish the side-effects of cisplatin chemotherapy.

Comparative solution equilibrium and structural studies of half-sandwich ruthenium(II)(η6-toluene) complexes of picolinate derivatives

“…coordinated and a chloride ion acts as the leaving group [3,[14][15][16]. Aquation (replacement of the chlorido ligand by a water molecule) facilitates the reaction with biological macromolecules such as proteins or DNA, therefore the strength of the Ru-Cl bond and the rate of its cleavage have a strong impact on the bioactivity of the Ru(II)-arene complexes …”

Somatostatin Subtype-2 Receptor-Targeted Metal-Based Anticancer Complexes

“…11,12 Indeed, in addition to several platinum compounds, two ruthenium(III) coordination complexes, trans-[RuCl 4 (DMSO)(Im)]ImH (NAMI-A) and trans-[RuCl 4 (Ind) 2 ]IndH (NKP-1339) are currently on clinical trials. 13,14 In recent years, research on bioinorganic chemistry has also been focused on organometallic ruthenium(II) and osmium(II) arene complexes since these compounds have shown promising in vitro and in vivo anticancer activities, including cell lines that have become resistant to cisplatin.…”

Toxic Effects of Metallopharmaceuticals

“…Numerous ruthenium complexes have been evaluated for clinical applications, particularly in the treatment of cancer due, in part, to the fact that Ru(II) and Ru(III) complexes exhibit a similar spectrum of kinetics for their ligand substitution reactions as Pt(II) complexes do (5). The representative group of cytotoxic Ru compounds are Ru(II) arene complexes, which were developed primarily by Dyson and coauthors (5) and Sadler and coauthors (6), although none of these compounds has yet entered clinical trials.…”