Current Medicinal Chemistry - Volume 30, Issue 5, 2023

Copper is an essential element for most aerobic organisms, with an important function as a structural and catalytic cofactor, and in consequence, it is implicated in several biological actions. The relevant aspects of chemistry and biochemistry and the importance of copper compounds in medicine give us a comprehensive knowledge of the multifaceted applications of copper in physiology and physiopathology. In this review, we present an outline of the chemistry, and the antitumor properties of copper complexes on breast, colon, and lung cancer cells focus on the role of copper in cancer, the relationship between structure-activity, molecular targets, and the study of the mechanism of action involved in its anticancer activity. This overview is expected to contribute to understanding the design, synthesis, and uses of copper complexes as antitumor agents in the most common cancers.

The discovery of the anticancer activity of cisplatin has marked the emergence of modern Inorganic Medicinal Chemistry. This field of research is concerned with the application of inorganic compounds to therapy or diagnosis of disease. In particular, metal coordination of bioactive ligands has gained recognition in drug design. The interaction between transition metal ions and the organic drugs could enhance their diagnostic and therapeutic potentials by improving the stability and/or bioavailability or by achieving a metal-drug synergism through a dual or multiple mechanisms of action. The isosteric replacement of sulfur by selenium in thiosemicarbazones leads to selenosemicarbazones. This class of compounds exhibits numerous biological activities like antitumor, antimicrobial, antiviral, etc. and, in most cases, they were more pronounced in comparison to the sulfur analogues. On the other hand, while the effect of transition metal complexation on the biological activity of thiosemicarbazones has been widely studied, the pharmacological activity of the corresponding metal-selenosemicarbazone compounds has been less explored. In this work, the most relevant results related to the selenosemicarbazone metal complexes as potential metal-based drugs have been reviewed.

Background: Since the 1980s, cancer research has focused primarily on developing new therapeutic agents targeting DNA alterations rather than understanding cancer as an integrated system composed of several modules. In this sense, G-quadruplex (G4) nucleic acids are a promising target for drug development for cancer therapy since they exist in the chromosomal telomeric sequences and the promoter regions of numerous genes. The G4 structures within telomeric DNA can inhibit telomerase activity and prevent the proliferation and immortalization of cancer cells. Furthermore, such G4 systems within the promoter regions of oncogenes can inhibit the transcription and expression of the oncogene. Objective: The rational design of small molecules such as organic ligands and their metal- organic derivative compounds can stabilize G4 structures through different binding modes on several G4 DNA topologies. Metal-based compounds have demonstrated their competitiveness compared to organic molecules to distinguish G4 over the DNA duplex owing to their convenient coordination features, positive charge, and electron density promoted by organic ligand. Results: This article is a comprehensive review of metal compounds G4-binders and their structural features that confer them the ability to recognize G-quartets and stabilize several DNA G4s. Conclusion: This stabilization can be achieved through extended square aromatic surfaces, increased hydrophobicity, different auxiliary ligands, axially coordinated ligands, and the nature of the metal center.

Sulfonamide compounds, also known as sulfa drugs, are a significant class of synthetic bacteriostatic antimicrobials and were the primary source of therapy against bacterial infections before the introduction of penicillin in 1941. Hybridization of sulfonamides with various pharmaceutically active heterocyclic moieties leads to sulfonamide hybrids with a wide variety of biological activities. Part B of this review presents the most recent advances in designing and developing more two-component sulfonamide hybrids containing triazole, thiadiazole, triazine, oxazole/ benzoxazole, isoxazole, oxadiazole, imidazole, benzimidazole, furan, benzofuran, thiophene, pyrrole, indazole, tetrazole, chromene/ chromone, pyridazine, quinoxaline, acridine, phthalazine, and xanthone between 2015 and 2020. We hope this review helps the scientific community in designing more useful sulfonamide hybrid drugs.