Cisplatin (Fig. 1) is a platinum(II) compound which contains two chlorido
and two ammino ligands. In 1965 the biological activity of this compound was
serendipitously discovered by Rosenberg et al. At present, this platinum(II) compound
remains one of the effective chemotherapeutic agents for the treatment of various
cancers in clinic [1]. The clinical success of this platinum compound has subsequently
prompted the studies to identify other new metal-based therapeutic agents. As
compared to organic molecules, metal-based compounds have unique physical,
chemical and/ or biophysical properties. In this book chapter, we summarized the very
recent progress (2013-2015) from the worldwide effort in the development of novel
metal-based compounds. Some recent works on the anti-cancer studies of gold
compounds including that of gold(I) and gold(III) will be discussed.
Keywords: Cancer, Cytotoxicity, Drugs, Encapsulation, Gold(I), Gold(III), In
vitro, Medicine, Metal Complexes, MTT Assays.
