Recent advancements in the anticancer potentials of phenylorganotin(IV) complexes

This review summarizes anticancer activities of formally substitution-inert "covalent" phenyltin(IV) complexes in the recent years. High toxicity and escalating resistance to Cisplatin and similar drugs brought the attention towards the development of non-platinum metal complexes as alternative chemotherapy for cancer. Among the non-platinum metal complexes, organotin complexes were proved to be possible new leads for the development of antitumor drugs. They have displayed a broad spectrum of antitumor activity and are most importantly non-cross-resistance with less toxicity as compared to platinum complex. The Sn complexes have proven their worth in effective inhibition of human cancer cell lines; importantly they work through cancer cell specific mechanisms at molecular level. It was observed that more than 50% of phenyl derivative of Sn complexes showed high cytotoxic activity but surprisingly have not entered clinical trials. In particular, we focus on phenyl analogues of tin complexes coordinated with Sn-O, Sn-N and Sn-S with an emphasis on the new strategies used in the development of new anticancer agents.