Metal Complexes as a Promising Source for New Antibiotics (original) (raw)

Antimicrobial Agents Based on Metal Complexes: Present Situation and Future Prospects

International Journal of Biomaterials

The rise in antimicrobial resistance is a cause of serious concern since the ages. Therefore, a dire need to explore new antimicrobial entities that can combat against the increasing threat of antibiotic resistance is realized. Studies have shown that the activity of the strongest antibiotics has reduced drastically against many microbes such as microfungi and bacteria (Gram-positive and Gram-negative). A ray of hope, however, was witnessed in early 1940s with the development of new drug discovery and use of metal complexes as antibiotics. Many new metal-based drugs were developed from the metal complexes which are potentially active against a number of ailments such as cancer, malaria, and neurodegenerative diseases. Therefore, this review is an attempt to describe the present scenario and future development of metal complexes as antibiotics against wide array of microbes.

Metal Complexes as Antifungals? – From a Crowd-Sourced Compound Library to First In Vivo Experiments

There are currently fewer than ten antifungal drugs in clinical development, but new fungal strains, which are resistant to most current antifungals are spreading rapidly across the world. To prevent a second resistance crisis, new classes of antifungal drugs are urgently needed. Metal complexes have proven to be promising candidates for novel antibiotics, but so far, few compounds have been explored for their potential application as antifungal agents. In this work we report the evaluation of 1039 metal-containing compounds that were screened by the Community for Open Antimicrobial Drug Discovery (CO-ADD). We show that 20.9% of all metal compounds tested have antimicrobial activity against two representative Candida and Cryptococcus strains, compared with only 1.1% of the >300,000 purely organic molecules tested through CO-ADD. We identified 90 metal compounds (8.7%) that show antifungal activity while not displaying any cytotoxicity against mammalian cell lines or haemolytic pr...

Perception and Resistance Mechanism of some Metal-drug Complexes and Their Roles as Antibacterial

Concepts, Compounds and the Alternatives of Antibacterials, 2015

Metal-based drugs have undergone much development and application for therapeutic and diagnostic purposes for many decades since the huge success of cisplatin and other successful metal-drug complexes in the clinical stages. Furthermore, this metal-based drug has come up with a lot of signs of resistance and side-effects in their uses. This review points to some of the resistance natures and mechanisms of previously synthesized complexes in the field of chemistry.

The Scope of Metal Complexes in Drug Design - a Review

INDIAN DRUGS, 2012

A significantly rising interest in the design of metal compounds as drugs and diagnostic agents is currently observed in the area of scientific inquiry, appropriately termed medicinal inorganic chemistry. Investigations in this area focus mostly on the speciation of metal species in biological media based on possible interactions of these metal ions with diverse biomolecules, in an effort to contribute to future development of new therapeutics or diagnostic agents. Metallopharmaceuticals used as anticancer agents, metal-mediated antibiotics, antibacterials, antivirals, antiparasitics, antiarthritics, antidiabetics and radio-sensitizing agents appear in therapeutic medicinal inorganic chemistry. The medicinal uses and applications of metals and metal complexes are of increasing clinical and commercial importance.

Essential Transition Metal Ion Complexation as a Strategy to Improve the Antimicrobial Activity of Organic Drugs

Journal of Infectious Diseases and Epidemiology, 2016

In order to maintain the capacity to treat infections it is necessary to adopt strategies for the development of new drugs. The use of metal ions in medicine for their antimicrobial effects was prevalent for many years before the advent of antibiotics. During the second half of the twentieth century, active metal complexes with different chemical, physicochemical and biochemical properties than the constituents reborn by the threat posed by microbial multidrug resistance. In this review, essential transition metal drugs with Cu(II), Zn(II) and Fe(III), showing known chemical structure, antimicrobial activities better than the free ligands and reported in the last ten years, are presented. The scientific information realizes many metal complexes having antimicrobial activity, which covers Gram negative and Gram positive bacteria, mycobacteria, yeast and fungi and many of them would be good candidates for further pharmaceutical studies. For these reasons the strategy of metal coordination is a potent tool to get numerous and diverse new antimicrobial agents. This strategy was used in several areas of the pharmacology. In spite of the fact that metal-based drugs represent a relatively small percentage of total drugs, they fulfill important roles in medicine. Just consider the cisplatin (platinum-containing anti-cancer drug), the aurothioglucose (chrysotherapy for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis) and the Ag-sulfadiazine (silver complex with antibacterial activity used in burns) to realize the importance of this field [9-11].

Copper complexation screen reveals compounds with potent antibiotic properties against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus

Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy, 2014

Macrophages take advantage of the antibacterial properties of copper ions in the killing of bacterial intruders. However, despite the importance of copper for innate immune functions, coordinated efforts to exploit copper ions for therapeutic interventions against bacterial infections are not yet in place. Here we report a novel high-throughput screening platform specifically developed for the discovery and characterization of compounds with copper-dependent antibacterial properties toward methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). We detail how one of the identified compounds, glyoxal-bis(N4-methylthiosemicarbazone) (GTSM), exerts its potent strictly copper-dependent antibacterial properties on MRSA. Our data indicate that the activity of the GTSM-copper complex goes beyond the general antibacterial effects of accumulated copper ions and suggest that, in contrast to prevailing opinion, copper complexes can indeed exhibit species- and target-specific activities. Based on ex...

Metal Complexes as Prospective Antibacterial Agents

A Search for Antibacterial Agents, 2012

Ninety elements occur naturally on earth. Out of these, nine are radioactive and among the remaining eighty one that could support life, sixty one are metals. Our bodies are 3% metal. Thus, it is surprising that some of the most serious challenges to human life, externally, the pollutants cadmium, mercury and lead are attracting more attention, whereas internally, there is a constant battle against sodium and calcium that are rejected by cells and accumulated elsewhere in the body during the ageing process. Furthermore, some diseases release metals into the blood stream. Their use in the fight against diseases was first described by Schubert in 1965. Man just like other vertebrates requires cations of the metals to facilitate a great many essential life processes. Moreover, many of the metals are essential for all other forms of life process. Around 5000 years ago the Egyptians used copper metal to sterilize water and gold was used in a variety of medicines in Arabian and China, but the practice emanated from the value of pure metal rather than from therapeutic effects. Metals have played an important role in medicine for years, ever since human being started to walk on the planet. Many are essential to our diets in varying quantities, although people have only recently realized their significance. This could probably be attributed to our increased awareness of personal and family health. Most of the major classes of pharmaceutical agents contain examples of metal compounds which are in current clinical use. Inorganic compounds (metal complexes) have been used to treat various diseases and ailments for many centuries.

Metal based drugs and chelating agents as therapeutic agents and their antimicrobial activity

Revue Roumaine de Chimie

In this article, the role of metal complexes and chelating agents as therapeutic agents was reviewed. These agents are employed for the treatment of many hazardous diseases such as cancer, ulcer, anemia, microbial infection etc. Therefore, this article is a mini-review to discuss and focus on the importance of metallodrugs and their curative benefits as a remedy against various diseases. Different therapeutic agents have been described such as chelates of platinum, iron, iridium, rhodium, ruthenium, palladium, cobalt, and nickel. * Fig. 1-Metals employed in medicinal inorganic chemistry.

Metal-based antimicrobial strategies

Microbial biotechnology, 2017

Metal based-antimicrobials have potential for profiling sustainability solutions to infection care and health; with biotechnological applications providing novel compounds. Yet they must be used wisely for sustainable use in human and agricultural health with thoughts towards bioremediation for recovery should be considered.