Gallium and gallium compounds: New insights into the Trojan horse strategy in medical applications

Infection, inflammation, tumors, and other illnesses have for a long time posed a major danger to human health and have developed into a global public health issue. However, the existing treatment methods are sometimes not effective, leading to high mortality. Therefore, it is urgent to seek new alternative thera-pies. Gallium and related derivatives have received a lot of interest recently because of their exceptional biological safety and distinctive pharmacological properties. More crucially, gallium and its compounds have the potential to specifically destroy iron metabolism, called the Trojan Horse strategy, which pro-vides unparalleled opportunities in antibacterial, anti-tumor, and bone regeneration. In this review, gal-lium and its compounds-based biomedical applications in antibacterial, anti-tumor, anti-inflammatory, and bone regeneration are focused upon and the relevant therapeutic mechanisms are discussed. Then, the latest gallium-based drug design and drug delivery system are summarized. Finally, we put forward the limitations of current gallium materials and the development trend of future materials. This review is anticipated to offer new insights into the treatment of gallium and its compounds, and provide new inspiration for application and design in the future.& COPY; 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Automated summary

Infections, inflammation, tumors, and other diseases have become a global public health issue, posing a major threat to human health. The existing treatment methods are sometimes ineffective, leading to high mortality. Therefore, there is an urgent need to explore new alternative therapies. Gallium and its derivatives have gained attention for their biological safety and unique pharmacological properties. Specifically, gallium and its compounds have the potential to destroy iron metabolism, providing unprecedented opportunities in antibacterial, anti-tumor, and bone regeneration. This review focuses on the biomedical applications, therapeutic mechanisms, and drug design of gallium-based compounds, and offers new insights for future treatment and design.