TY - JOUR
T1 - From coins to cancer therapy: Gold, silver and copper complexes targeting human topoisomerases
AU - Ceramella, Jessica
AU - Mariconda, Annaluisa
AU - Iacopetta, Domenico
AU - Saturnino, Carmela
AU - Barbarossa, Alexia
AU - Caruso, Anna
AU - Rosano, Camillo
AU - Sinicropi, Maria Stefania
AU - Longo, Pasquale
PY - 2020/2/1
Y1 - 2020/2/1
N2 - Cancer is a complex issue and, even though the prevention basics and therapy have been implemented, it is still the second leading death cause worldwide. With the hope to discover new powerful and safer molecules to fight cancer, many researchers focused their attention on metal-based compounds, starting from the most famous and successfully employed anticancer drug, i.e. cisplatin. The current article aims to report the most recent discoveries about the use of gold, silver and copper complexes as antitumor agents, highlighting their influences on important enzymes, namely human topoisomerases. The latter are fundamental for the cell life and, if overexpressed, strongly implicated in cancer onset and progression. The identification of lead complexes targeting human topoisomerases and gifted with the appropriate chemical and pharmacological properties represents a fecund starting point to obtain new and more effective anticancer molecules.
AB - Cancer is a complex issue and, even though the prevention basics and therapy have been implemented, it is still the second leading death cause worldwide. With the hope to discover new powerful and safer molecules to fight cancer, many researchers focused their attention on metal-based compounds, starting from the most famous and successfully employed anticancer drug, i.e. cisplatin. The current article aims to report the most recent discoveries about the use of gold, silver and copper complexes as antitumor agents, highlighting their influences on important enzymes, namely human topoisomerases. The latter are fundamental for the cell life and, if overexpressed, strongly implicated in cancer onset and progression. The identification of lead complexes targeting human topoisomerases and gifted with the appropriate chemical and pharmacological properties represents a fecund starting point to obtain new and more effective anticancer molecules.
KW - Cancer therapy
KW - Human topoisomerases
KW - Metal complexes
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85077150207&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85077150207&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.bmcl.2019.126905
DO - 10.1016/j.bmcl.2019.126905
M3 - Review article
C2 - 31874823
AN - SCOPUS:85077150207
VL - 30
JO - Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry Letters
JF - Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry Letters
SN - 0960-894X
IS - 3
M1 - 126905
ER -