Recent developments in the field of anticancer metallopharmaceuticals

Abstract

Metallopharmaceuticals play an important role in contemporary society as therapeutic and diagnostic agents. Many metallopharmaceuticals have been developed to treat/cure a variety of cancers. Besides platinum compounds- cisplatin, carboplatin, oxaliplatin, tetraplatin, satraplatin etc., non-platinum compounds viz. NAMI-A, KP1019, KP46, auranofin and As2O3 etc. have shown promising results and many of them are in different phases of clinical trials. Traces of metals are essential for the proper functioning of enzymes in our body and also for the activity of many drugs of organic nature. Chelation in many cases causes drastic change in biological properties of ligands as well as metal moiety. Metal complexes are supposed to exert their effect by intercalation/cleavage of DNA/RNA, arrest of cell cycle and alteration of cell membrane functions. Recently, different strategies to overcome resistance against metal-based anticancer drugs and targeted drug delivery to cancerous cells have been described. These include the encapsulation, conjugation and prodrug formation with different polymer/macromolecules. The review includes the recent developments in anticancer metallopharmaceuticals being developed as therapeutic agents during the recent past.