Antitumor potential of platinum(II) complexes of selenium donor ligands

Platinum(II) coordination compounds are widely applied in clinics as anticancer drugs. In this review, we provide a summary of the reports on cytotoxic properties of platinum(II) complexes of selenium donor ligands along with a brief description of their structural features. It has been observed that the platinum(II) complexes of selenones and selenoethers display reasonable antitumor properties and in some cases their cytotoxic activity is greater than cisplatin. The complexes containing NH₃ ligands along with selenones were found to exhibit better cytotoxicity compared to the binary Pt-selenone complexes. The mechanistic insights showed that these complexes exert antitumor activity through reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and induction of apoptosis. The platinum-selenoether coordination compounds can self-assemble into spherical aggregates capable of self-delivery. The self-assembled Pt-selenium aggregates induce cell apoptosis via ROS, which leads to high selectivity between cancer cells and normal cells in cytotoxicity assays.