Drug Design, Development and Therapy (Dec 2020)
Ruthenium Complexes as Anticancer Agents: A Brief History and Perspectives
Abstract
Sang Yeul Lee,* Chul Young Kim,* Tae-Gyu Nam Department of Pharmacy and Institute of Pharmaceutical Science and Technology, Hanyang University, Ansan, Gyeonggi-do 15588, Republic of Korea*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Tae-Gyu Nam Department of Pharmacy and Institute of Pharmaceutical Science and TechnologyHanyang University, ERICA Campus, Ansan, Gyeonggi-do 15588, Republic of KoreaTel +82 31 400 5807Fax +82 31 400 5958Email [email protected]: Platinum (Pt)-based anticancer drugs such as cisplatin have been used to treat various cancers. However, they have some limitations including poor selectivity and toxicity towards normal cells and increasing chemoresistance. Therefore, there is a need for novel metallo-anticancers, which has not been met for decades. Since the initial introduction of ruthenium (Ru) polypyridyl complex, a number of attempts at structural evolution have been conducted to improve efficacy. Among them, half-sandwich Ru-arene complexes have been the most prominent as an anticancer platform. Such complexes have clearly shown superior anticancer profiles such as increased selectivity toward cancer cells and ameliorating toxicity against normal cells compared to existing Pt-based anticancers. Currently, several Ru complexes are under human clinical trials. For improvement in selectivity and toxicity associated with chemotherapy, Ru complexes as photodynamic therapy (PDT), and photoactivated chemotherapy (PACT), which can selectively activate prodrug moieties in a specific region, have also been investigated. With all these studies on these interesting entities, new metallo-anticancer drugs to at least partially replace existing Pt-based anticancers are anticipated. This review covers a brief description of Ru-based anticancer complexes and perspectives.Keywords: metallo-anticancer, ruthenium, photodynamic therapy, photoactivated chemotherapy
