Zinc(II), copper(II) and nickel(II) ions improve the selectivity of tetra-cationic platinum(II) porphyrins in photodynamic therapy and stimulate antioxidant defenses in the metastatic melanoma lineage (A375)

The Effects of Essential and Non-Essential Metal Toxicity in the Drosophila melanogaster Insect Model: A Review

“…This similarity is reflected in their binding capabilities: both have similar metal ligand bond strength, and both often have similar final structures after interaction with the same ligand [ 22 ]. As another example, Cu is the natural cofactor for the D. melanogaster ROS scavenger enzyme superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1), but Ni can bind to the enzyme, replacing Cu and inhibiting enzyme activity [ 29 ]. Both Cu and Ni produce ROS and both metals cause indirect DNA damage at toxic concentrations, but only Cu, and not Ni, interacts with SOD1 to produce a functional enzyme.…”

Density Functional Theory-Guided Photo-Triggered Anticancer Activity of Curcumin-Based Zinc(II) Complexes

“…Cancer has been one of the most deadly diseases to treat until now. , The development of platinum-based anticancer drugs has made tremendous advances in the field of inorganic medicinal chemistry over the past few decades. − However, drug resistance and side effects of platinum-based drugs have restricted their premise. − Recently, photodynamic therapy (PDT) has evolved as a new therapeutic modality for curing cancer due to its huge cure gains and fewer side effects than chemotherapy and radiation therapy. − PDT uses light as a stimulus to activate a photosensitizer at the cancer site specifically without any harm to unexposed healthy tissues/cells. − For PDT application, the era of metal-based photosensitizers started recently. − In this regard, 4d and 5d metal-based photosensitizers are well studied due to their rich photophysics, photochemistry, and photostability. − However, there is now a paradigm shift toward 3d-metal-based photosensitizers as they are cost-effective and biocompatible. − …”

Potent PBS/Polysorbate-Soluble Transplatin-Derived Porphyrin-Based Photosensitizers for Photodynamic Therapy

“…The success of these systems led other research groups − and us to continue the story in recent years, where we improved the tetraplatinated 5,10,15,20-tetra­(4′-pyridyl)-porphyrin ( 4PyP ) systems by inserting a zinc­(II) ion into the porphyrin, leading to three important advantageous effects: (1) a beneficial red-shift of the PS’s main absorbance band while changing from a platinum­(II) porphyrin conjugate to a platinum­(II) metalloporphyrin conjugate, (2) better properties in terms of solubility due to the additional coordination sites of the zinc­(II) ion in the center, and (3) IC 50 values as low as 0.017 μM upon irradiation in HeLa cells, resulting in PIs of over 5800, leading to an almost five times higher potency of the zinc-containing PSs compared with the zinc-free PSs. Additionally, we could show that instead of the anticipated dual-chemotherapeutic effect, the platinum­(II) complexes can act as outstanding cell-penetrating vectors by increasing the aqueous solubility and not causing unwanted toxicity due to the known fast efflux of transplatin species out of cells .…”