oa Editorial [Hot Topic: Gold Derivatives as Anti-Cancer Agents (Guest Editor: Laura Rodriguez Raurell)]

This special issue is focused in the applications of gold derivatives as anti-cancer agents, a research area that is in growing development in the recent years. Gold complexes were already known as rheumatoid arthritis agents for a long time, but their anti-cancer capabilities are much less explored. Interestingly, this emerging research area uses very top techniques such as proteomics, fluorescence microscopy, nanochemistry, luminescence… This thematic issue presents different contributions (as review articles) that include a wide range of different methodologies that work straightforward to this goal. It also shows a sample of the very different kind of compounds (from mononuclear complexes to nanoparticules) with positive effect in this research. Moreover, the mechanistic studies and the biological strategies followed by these drugs is also analyzed in some of the manuscripts. Thus, gold(I) drugs represent a valuable new tool for medicine applications due to the wide range of properties exhibited by their derivatives and also, it is important to note that they could be modulated in a particular way by the change or slight modifications of the coordinated ligands and/or in the structure of the nanoparticles. All of this could be found in this Special Issue entitled “Gold Derivatives as Anticancer Agents”. Phosphine-Gold(I) Compounds As Anticancer Agents: General Description And Mechanisms of Action. Joao Carlos Lima and Laura Rodriguez The present paper is an overview of the different gold-phosphine derivatives used as anticancer agents and reported in the literature until now. Their mechanism of action seems to be clearly different that the used by platinum drugs (DNA intercalating processes) and recent studies point to be related to the inhibition of Trx reductase. The use of luminescence techniques in these studies is scarcely found and is also here explored. Protein Targets for Anticancer Gold Compounds: Mechanistic Inferences. Chiara Gabbiani and Luigi Messori Gold compounds, either gold(III) or gold(I), were recently described and characterised that manifested remarkable cytotoxic properties in vitro against cultured cancer cells. In this paper, the molecular mechanisms through which gold compounds exert their biological effects are shown and, in particular, gold interactions with a variety of protein targets. The state of the art of this research area and the perspectives for future studies are herein critically analysed and discussed....