title: Therapeutic applications of gold complexes: lipophilic gold(III) cations and gold(I) complexes for anti-cancer treatment.
abstract: Gold and its complexes have long been known to display unique biological and medicinal properties. Extensive cell-based (in vitro) and animal (in vivo) studies have revealed the potent anti-cancer activities of diverse classes of gold(I) and gold(III) complexes. Most of the reported anti-cancer active gold complexes are highly cytotoxic and unstable under physiological conditions, which hamper their development to be launched clinically. Several clinical reports showed that lipophilic organic cations are promising anti-cancer drug candidates targeting to mitochondria. Through metal-ligand coordination, gold(I) and gold(III) ions can form stable lipophilic cations containing organic ligands having tunable lipophilicity and diverse functionalities. The present highlight summarizes the recent development of lipophilic gold(III) cations and gold(I) complexes with promising anti-cancer activities.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, State Key Laboratory of Synthetic Chemistry, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong. cmche@hku.hk
authors.forename: Chi-Ming
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Che
authors.forename: Raymond Wai-Yin
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Sun
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D057927:Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions; D008024:Ligands; D009942:Organometallic Compounds / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D008024:Ligands; D009942:Organometallic Compounds; D006046:Gold