Rhodium and its compounds as potential agents in cancer treatment

The antitumor activity of the inorganic complex cis-diammine-dichloroplatinum(II) (cisplatin) led to the development of other types of non-organic cytostatic drugs. Numerous platinum other platinum and non-platinum metal compounds were shown to be effective against animal model tumors as well as tumors in man. However, the introduction of novel transition metal agents in clinical treatment is exceptionally slow. So far, Ru(II) and Ru(III) complexes have shown very promising properties while the Ru(III) compound, [ImH][trans-Cl-4(Me2SO)(Im)Ru(III)] (Im = imidazole, NAMI-A), is the first ruthenium compound that successfully entered phase I clinical trials. Rhodium belongs to the same group as platinum and ruthenium. However, rhodium compounds, analogues to the corresponding platinum and ruthenium compounds that possess significant antitumor properties, were found to be less effective as anticancer agents mainly due to their toxic effects. Dimeric mu-Acetato dimers of Rh(II) as well as monomeric square planar Rh(I) and octahedral Rh(III) complexes have shown interesting antitumor properties. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.