Iridium(III) Complexes Targeting Apoptotic Cell Death in Cancer Cells

Abstract

Targeting apoptosis is a principal strategy in the design of anticancer drugs. In recent years, non-platinum-based scaffolds have been exploited as viable candidates for the exploitation of anticancer agents with potentially lower toxicity than the widely used cisplatin analogues. This review highlights the latest advances in developing iridium(III) complexes as anticancer agents that act particularly via targeting apoptotic cell death in cancer cells.

Anticancer activity and molecular mechanisms of α‐conidendrin, a polyphenolic compound present in Taxus yunnanensis, on human breast cancer cell lines

“…Moreover, α‐conidendrin remarkably induced early (Annexin V+, PI−) and late apoptosis (Annexin V+, PI+) in breast cancer cells in a concentration‐dependent manner. Nowadays, targeting apoptosis is considered as a viable approach for the identification and development of novel anticancer therapies (Ma, Wu, Wu, & Leung, ). In the last two decades, diverse phytochemicals and various botanical formulations have been characterized as natural compounds that have the potential to execute cancer cells by inducing apoptosis (Kumar, Kaur, Kumar, & Kaur, ).…”

X-ray tomography of cryopreserved human prostate cancer cells: mitochondrial targeting by an organoiridium photosensitiser

“…Structural information at a sub-cellular level on the effects caused by the irradiation of cells treated with 1 can make an important contribution towards our understanding of the mechanism of anticancer activity of this family of PDT photosensitisers. Furthermore, mitochondria have been proposed previously as major target sites for a variety of other iridium photosensitisers [16,18,19,24], so there is wider interest in developing methods which allow the direct investigation of the effects of photo-irradiation of such complexes on cellular organelles.…”

Structure-tuned membrane active Ir-complexed oligoarginine overcomes cancer cell drug resistance and triggers immune responses in mice

“…[23][24][25][26][27][28][29] Meanwhile, a notable class of membrane-targeting cyclometalated iridium(III) complexes, have gained increasing attention because of their biomolecular reactivities and potent anticancer activities of novel mechanisms. [30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37] In this work, these two classes of membrane active compounds are bioconjugated to remove their respective disadvantages; for example, the iridium complex contributes to the peptide structural stability and enables luminescence-based analysis, whereas peptides endow the iridium complex with a suitable solubility. This combination may also provide structural insights on new compounds' membrane activity and therapeutic mechanisms beyond our previous understanding.…”