Gold-Based Therapeutic Agents

Abstract

a position he recently assumed. A native of the New York City area, he was raised in Delaware. After receiving his Bachelor's degree (with honors in Chemistry) at the University of Delaware, he was trained in classical organometallic chemistry as he earned his Ph.D. under Professor A. Louis Allred at Northwestern University studying group IV compounds, then held postdoctoral positions at Purdue University with the late Professor R. Stuart Tobias (organogold chemistry) and a tutor and with Professor Ian Butler at McGill University (transition-metal carbonyl and nitrosyl chemistry). When he was appointed to his first faculty position at UWsMilwaukee in 1974, however, he quickly succumbed to the siren song of inorganic biochemistry, then a field in its infancy. For the last quarter of a century, he has studied the chemistry, biochemistry, and pharmacology of antiarthritic gold drugs and chemical properties of metallothioneins, a class of ubiquitous, sulfhydryl-rich, metal-binding proteins. He enjoys teaching courses from general chemistry to advanced graduate level. Away from the lab and office, he collects objects with unusual point groups and enjoys the out-of-doors. His interest in landuse planning once dedicated to protecting Lake Michigan and especially its Milwaukee Lakefront will now be transferred to the blue-greener pastures of Kentucky.

Cancer cell death induced by phosphine gold(I) compounds targeting thioredoxin reductase

“…Auranofin, triethylphosphine(2,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-β-1-D-thiopyranosato-S)gold(I), is the first metal phosphine complex introduced into clinical practice for chrysotherapy, the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis with gold-based drugs [1], following the pioneering studies conducted with gold(I) thiolate compounds [2]. In contrast to the polymeric nature of the latter, auranofin is a discrete monomeric complex [3] composed of a tertiary phosphine and a thioglucose coordinated to the metal having bond lengths and angles [3] similar to those of typical two-coordinate, linear gold(I) compounds [4].…”

G 2 /M cell cycle arrest on HT-29 cancer cells and toxicity assessment of triphenylphosphanegold(I) carbonimidothioates, Ph 3 PAu[SC(OR) = NPh], R = Me, Et, and iPr, during zebrafish development

“…Phosphanegold(I) compounds showed early promise as anticancer drugs through biological screening [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] and evaluation of mechanistic pathways [3][4][5][6][7][8]. For example, in recent years evidence has accumulated suggesting phosphanegold(I) compounds are responsible for mitochondrial dysfunction leading to cell death [3][4][5][6][7][8].…”

“…For example, in recent years evidence has accumulated suggesting phosphanegold(I) compounds are responsible for mitochondrial dysfunction leading to cell death [3][4][5][6][7][8]. The importance of mitochondria as useful targets in cancer cells arises because they serve as a reservoir of proteins that stimulate the apoptotic death when mobilized into the cytosol [9,10].…”

The synthesis, chemical and biological properties of dichlorido(azpy)gold(III) chloride (azpy= 2-(phenylazo)pyridine) and the gold-induced conversion of the azpy ligand to the chloride of the novel tricyclic pyrido[2,1-c][1,2,4]benzotriazin-11-ium cation

“…Gold's application to treat a variety of ailments [8][9][10] dates back to ancient times in the Arabic and Chinese civilizations [11]. At the end of 19th century, Koch discovered the bacteriostatic properties of gold cyanide, K[Au(CN) 2 ], towards tubercle bacillus.…”

“…The compounds used in the treatment of rheumatoid diseases [12] are currently the major clinical use for gold compounds, an example being Auranofin. Undoubtedly, important advances in the chemical reactivity and pharmacology of gold drugs have emerged and further applications were hypothesized from this knowledge, generating new studies of gold compounds for the treatment of cancer, HIV and malaria [8,10,13].…”