title: Noble metal-dithiocarbamates precious allies in the fight against cancer.
abstract: To date, cisplatin and its analogs are among the most effective chemotherapeutic agents for cancer treatment. However, high systemic toxicity and the propensity for patients to develop tumor resistance remain the main challenges in the clinical application. Therefore, the discovery and development of novel active chemotherapeutic agents are largely needed and the research of new metal-based anticancer drugs continues to be a very active international field. In this review paper we aim to give a detailed overview on our research work devoted to the design of novel dithiocarbamato complexes with different noble metals (such as palladium, platinum, copper, ruthenium and gold), which have gained considerable interest in both the development and the treatment of cancer. In particular, we summarize the results of the metal complexes achieved so far, focusing on the gold(III) compounds, that show outstanding in vitro and in vivo antitumor properties and reduced, or even no, systemic and renal toxicity, compared to the reference drug cisplatin.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Padova, Via Marzolo 1, 35131 Padova, Italy.
authors.forename: Eszter Márta
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Nagy
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ronconi
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Nardon
authors.forename: Dolores
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Fregona
mesh_terms: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000627:therapeutic use / Q000633:toxicity; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects; D056831:Coordination Complexes / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000627:therapeutic use / Q000633:toxicity; D003300:Copper / Q000737:chemistry; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy; D010165:Palladium / Q000737:chemistry; D010984:Platinum / Q000737:chemistry; D012428:Ruthenium / Q000737:chemistry; D013859:Thiocarbamates / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D056831:Coordination Complexes; D013859:Thiocarbamates; D010984:Platinum; D010165:Palladium; D006046:Gold; D003300:Copper; D012428:Ruthenium