title: Gold compounds as anticancer agents: chemistry, cellular pharmacology, and preclinical studies.
abstract: Gold compounds are a class of metallodrugs with great potential for cancer treatment. During the last two decades, a large variety of gold(I) and gold(III) compounds are reported to possess relevant antiproliferative properties in vitro against selected human tumor cell lines, qualifying themselves as excellent candidates for further pharmacological evaluation. The unique chemical properties of the gold center confer very interesting and innovative pharmacological profiles to gold-based metallodrugs. The primary goal of this review is to define the state of the art of preclinical studies on anticancer gold compounds, carried out either in vitro or in vivo. The available investigations of anticancer gold compounds are analyzed in detail, and particular attention is devoted to underlying molecular mechanisms. Notably, a few biophysical studies reveal that the interactions of cytotoxic gold compounds with DNA are generally far weaker than those of platinum drugs, implying the occurrence of a substantially different mode of action. A variety of alternative mechanisms were thus proposed, of which those involving either direct mitochondrial damage or proteasome inhibition or modulation of specific kinases are now highly credited. The overall perspectives on the development of gold compounds as effective anticancer drugs with an innovative mechanism of action are critically discussed on the basis of the available experimental evidence.
authors.affiliation: Department of Preclinical and Clinical Pharmacology, University of Florence, viale Pieraccini 6, 50139 Florence, Italy.
authors.forename: Stefania
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nobili
authors.forename: Enrico
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mini
authors.forename: Ida
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Landini
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gabbiani
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Casini
authors.forename: Luigi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Messori
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D017209:Apoptosis; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002626:Chemistry, Pharmaceutical / Q000379:methods; D004247:DNA / Q000378:metabolism; D015195:Drug Design; D004354:Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor; D017612:Gold Compounds / Q000494:pharmacology*; D018922:HL-60 Cells; D006801:Humans; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*; D010770:Phosphotransferases / Q000737:chemistry; D013880:Thioredoxin-Disulfide Reductase / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D017612:Gold Compounds; D004247:DNA; D013880:Thioredoxin-Disulfide Reductase; D010770:Phosphotransferases