Replacement of the Thiosugar of Auranofin with Iodide Enhances the Anticancer Potency in a Mouse Model of Ovarian Cancer

ACS Med Chem Lett. 2019 Feb 7;10(4):656-660. doi: 10.1021/acsmedchemlett.9b00007. eCollection 2019 Apr 11.

Abstract

In recent years, a few successful attempts were made to repurpose the clinically approved antiarthritic gold drug, Auranofin (AF), as an anticancer agent. The present study shows that the iodido(triethylphosphine)gold(I) complex, (Et 3 PAuI hereafter)-an AF analogue where the thiosugar ligand is simply replaced by one iodide ligand-manifests a solution chemistry resembling that of AF and exerts similar cytotoxic and proapoptotic effects on A2780 human ovarian cancer cells in vitro. However, when evaluated in a preclinical orthotopic model of ovarian cancer, Et 3 PAuI produces a far superior anticancer action than AF inducing a nearly complete tumor remission. The highly promising in vivo performances here documented for Et 3 PAuI warrant its further evaluation as a drug candidate for ovarian cancer treatment.