Abstract

CURRENT APPLICATIONS AND FUTURE TRENDS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF ANTICANCER DRUGS FROM BIOINORGANIC METAL COMPLEXES

*Mir Shabeer Ahmad

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. Metals are endowed with unique characteristics that include redox activity, variable coordination modes and reactivity towards organic substrates. Due to their reactivity, metals are tightly regulated under normal conditions and aberrant metal ion concentrations are associated with various pathological disorders, including cancer. For these reasons, coordination complexes, either as drugs or pro drugs, become very attractive probes as potential anticancer agents. The use of metals and their salts for medicinal purposes, from iatrochemistry to modern day, has been present throughout human history. The discovery of cisplatin, cis-[PtII(NH3)2Cl2], was a defining moment which triggered the interest in platinum(II)- and other metal-containing complexes as potential novel anticancer drugs. Other interests in this field address concerns for uptake, toxicity and resistance to metallo drugs.

Keywords: Cancer, metal, gold, anticancer, platinum, metal complex, Bioinorganic.