Stimuli-Responsive Therapeutic Metallodrugs

Chem Rev. 2019 Jan 23;119(2):1138-1192. doi: 10.1021/acs.chemrev.8b00209. Epub 2018 Oct 9.

Abstract

The success of platinum-based anticancer agents has motivated the exploration of novel metal-based drugs for several decades, whereas problems such as drug-resistance and systemic toxicity hampered their clinical applications and efficacy. Stimuli-responsiveness of some metal complexes offers a good opportunity for designing site-specific prodrugs to maximize the therapeutic efficacy and minimize the side effect of metallodrugs. This review presents a comprehensive and up-to-date overview on the therapeutic stimuli-responsive metallodrugs that have appeared in the past two decades, where stimuli such as redox, pH, enzyme, light, temperature, and so forth were involved. The compounds are classified into three major categories based on the nature of stimuli, that is, endo-stimuli-responsive metallodrugs, exo-stimuli-responsive metallodrugs, and dual-stimuli-responsive metallodrugs. Representative examples of each type are discussed in terms of structure, response mechanism, and potential medical applications. In the end, future opportunities and challenges in this field are tentatively proposed. With diverse metal complexes being introduced, the foci of this review are pointed to platinum and ruthenium complexes.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Antineoplastic Agents / chemistry
  • Antineoplastic Agents / therapeutic use
  • Coordination Complexes / chemistry*
  • Coordination Complexes / therapeutic use
  • Humans
  • Hydrogen-Ion Concentration
  • Light
  • Neoplasms / drug therapy
  • Oxidation-Reduction
  • Platinum / chemistry
  • Ruthenium / chemistry
  • Temperature

Substances

  • Antineoplastic Agents
  • Coordination Complexes
  • Platinum
  • Ruthenium