Abstract
Synthesized and characterized a series of
rhenium(I) trycarbonyl-based complexes with increased lipophilicity. Two of
these novel compounds were discovered to possess remarkable anticancer,
anti-angiogenic and antimetastatic activity in
vivo (zebrafish-human CRC xenograft model), being effective at very low
doses (1-3 µM). At doses as high as 250 µM the complexes did not provoke
toxicity issues encountered in clinical anticancer drugs (cardio-, hepato-, and
myelotoxicity). The two compounds exceed the antiproliferative and
anti-angiogenic potency of clinical drugs cisplatin and sunitinib-malate, and
display a large therapeutic window.