Emerging Metallopharmaceuticals for the Treatment of Cancer

The incredible chemical and physical diversity inherent to metal-containing compounds offers an opportunity to develop novel anticancer agents that can overcome some of the drawbacks associated with current therapies. Phototherapeutic metal complexes enable temporal and spatial control over drug activation and thereby can prevent or reduce systemic toxicity, which is a major limitation of current platinum-based anticancer drugs (cisplatin, carboplatin, and oxaliplatin). Rationally designed metal complexes display promising in vitro and in vivo activities against hard-to-kill subpopulations of tumors called cancer stem cells (CSCs). CSCs are heavily linked to relapse and metastasis. The recent identification of metal complexes capable of inducing cancer cell death by cytotoxic and immunological pathways could facilitate first-in-class immunotherapeutic interventions with metal-containing compounds. Cancer remains a leading cause of death worldwide. Despite breakthrough clinical therapies for the treatment of cancer using platinum and arsenic compounds, metal complexes have received relatively little attention from industrial anticancer drug discovery programs over the last few decades. The chemical diversity and versatility offered by metal complexes, arising from the choice of metal, oxidation state, redox state, number and type of ligands, coordination geometry, and their magnetic and optical properties, provides an opportunity to develop novel metallopharmaceuticals that can overcome some of the shortfalls associated with current state-of-the-art cancer treatments. Herein we highlight selected recent developments and novel ideas currently being explored by scientists to uncover the next generation of anticancer metallopharmaceuticals with clinically relevant efficacies. Cancer remains a leading cause of death worldwide. Despite breakthrough clinical therapies for the treatment of cancer using platinum and arsenic compounds, metal complexes have received relatively little attention from industrial anticancer drug discovery programs over the last few decades. The chemical diversity and versatility offered by metal complexes, arising from the choice of metal, oxidation state, redox state, number and type of ligands, coordination geometry, and their magnetic and optical properties, provides an opportunity to develop novel metallopharmaceuticals that can overcome some of the shortfalls associated with current state-of-the-art cancer treatments. Herein we highlight selected recent developments and novel ideas currently being explored by scientists to uncover the next generation of anticancer metallopharmaceuticals with clinically relevant efficacies. a subpopulation of cancer cells within tumors that have the capacity to self-renew, differentiate, and promote tumorigenicity. a form of cell death that leads to the release of protein signals that instigate an immune response. a type of treatment, used to treat cancer and other diseases, where the immune system is activated (or suppressed) using chemical agents or biologics, to provide a therapeutic response. a biologically active compound that contains a metal component. The metal component usually plays an active role in the pharmacological effect induced by the compound. refers to chemical compounds that contain more than one metal center. This includes complexes with multiple centers with the same metal and with different metals. a clinically approved treatment that uses a light-sensitive compound (an exogenous photosensitizer) and a light source to destroy diseased cells.