fluorescent probes

Chem

The use of metal complexes in medicine to diagnose or treat patients with different medical conditions is well established. However, the field is currently undergoing a paradigm shift; formerly, after the discovery of a useful compound, the primary mechanism of action was subsequently investigated, whereas today, the mechanism of action is increasingly used to drive the discovery process. This approach benefits from the specific properties of metal complexes that can be tuned to optimize the drug-like properties of the metal compound. In this review, we provide an analysis of the primary modes of action of the currently used metal-based drugs and promising drug candidates and highlight both the challenges and opportunities offered by these compounds. Metal-based drugs and imaging agents are extensively used in the clinic for the treatment and diagnosis of cancers and a wide range of other diseases. The current clinical arsenal of compounds operate via a limited number of mechanisms, whereas new putative compounds explore alternative mechanisms of action, which could potentially bring new chemotherapeutic approaches into the clinic. In this review, metal-based drugs and imaging agents are characterized according to their primary mode of action, and the key properties and features of each class of compounds are defined wherever possible. A better understanding of the roles played by metal compounds at a mechanistic level will help to deliver new metal-based therapies to the clinic by providing an alternative, targeted, and rational approach to supplement non-targeted screening of novel chemical entities for biological activity. Metal-based drugs and imaging agents are extensively used in the clinic for the treatment and diagnosis of cancers and a wide range of other diseases. The current clinical arsenal of compounds operate via a limited number of mechanisms, whereas new putative compounds explore alternative mechanisms of action, which could potentially bring new chemotherapeutic approaches into the clinic. In th...

Classification of Metal-Based Drugs according to Their Mechanisms of Action