Therapeutic gold. Is it due for a come-back?

Abstract

The historical use of metallic gold and gold complexes in medicine is briefly outlined. Currently, there is a large body of opinion that they belong to another age, are no longer relevant and that there are more-than-adequate successors to replace them. Nevertheless some challenging questions remain: (1) Should we now ignore their remarkable properties for ameliorating rheumatoid arthritis, even inducing remissions and for preventing arthritis development in animals? (i) What mechanisms underlie their clinical activity? (ii) Can some of the adverse effects of traditional therapy with gold-thiolate complexes be reduced/prevented by either modifying their formulations, or by using some of their bio-transformation products at much lower doses? (iii) Are they equivalent, perhaps even superior to biological DMARDs (anti-TNFalpha, anti-IL-1), and if so, more cost effective?

Gold complexes as potential anti-parasitic agents

“…More recently auranofin (Ridaura TM ) was introduced into the clinic, as an orally bioavailable drug. Gold therapy has been extended to treat a variety of other diseases such as psoriasis, pemphigus, asthma, urticaria among others [32][33][34][35].…”

Crystal and Molecular Structure of Dichloro(ethylenediamine)gold(III) Nitrate: [Au(NH2CH2CH2NH2)Cl2]NO3

“…Gold compounds have a long history in medicine, being employed by Arabic, Chinese and Indian physicians for thousands of years [1, 2]. In contemporary times, gold compounds such as Myocrisin ® , a polymeric, charged and water-soluble sodium aurothiomalate, and Auranofin ® , a mononuclear, lipophilic triethylphosphinegold(I) tetra-acetylated thioglucose species, both Disease Modifying Anti-Rheumatic Drugs (DMARDS), are used in the treatment of extreme forms of rheumatoid arthritis [1, 2] (Fig.…”

Study of the Interaction of Some Potential Anticancer Gold(III) Complexes with Biologically Important Thiols Using NMR, UV–Vis, and Electrochemistry

“…One of the most important concerns of recent bio‐inorganic chemistry is to develop new metal‐based drugs . The use of gold in antirheumatic treatment supports its pharmaceutical importance . Special attention had been paid to gold(III) complexes due to the similarity between gold(III) complexes and cisplatin .…”