The contribution of metal compounds to oncology is well-known due to the
clinical relevance of cisplatin drug and its analogues in current Platinum Cancer
Chemotherapy. The undesirable drawbacks, e.g., limited range of treatable cancers,
tumor resistance and serious side-effects, associated to the use of platinum drugs,
nevertheless, account for the developing of new alternative metal-based anticancer
drugs. A number of promising ruthenium compounds exerting anticancer/antitumor
activities has been reported in the last decades and significant progress was achieved
with the entrance of the anti-metastatic NAMI-A and the cytotoxic KP1019 (and its
analogue KP1339) Ru(III) compounds into human clinical trials. Selected Ru-based
drugs considering the diversity of structures and oxidation states as well as the distinctly
different chemical, biochemical and pharmacological activities (e.g., anti-metastatic or
cytotoxic activities in tumors) are discussed in this chapter, updating the 2010 review by
the same author. The two classical Ru(III)-based drugs and different families of Ru(II)-
organometallics are presented. The chapter includes also the novel class of
diruthenium(II,III)-(pharmaceuticals) metallodrugs, with focus on Ru2(II,III) metal-metal
bonded cores coordinated to ligands derived from pharmaceuticals such as nonsteroidal
anti-inflammatory drugs or the γ-linolenic acid, targeting glioma cancer
therapy.
Keywords: Anticancer, antitumor, cytotoxicity, diruthenium(II, III), glioma, γ-
linolenic acid, metal-based drugs, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs,
ruthenium(II), ruthenium(III).
