Anti-proliferative and antitumor activity of organotin(IV) compounds. An overview of the last decade and future perspectives

Organotins(IV) exhibit significant in vitro anti-proliferative activity, while the in vivo tests are encouraging. The recent reports on the anti-proliferative activity of organotin(IV) compounds are summarized in this review. The period covered by this work goes back to 2009 until late 2018, while the earlier ones, are included over the previous review of our group published by S.K. Hadjikakou, N. Hadjiliadis, in Coord Chem Rev, 253 (2009) 235–249. During the last decade (2009–2018), >300 organotin(IV) derivatives with oxygen-donor ligands, such as carboxylic acids, amino-acids, Non Steroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs), biological active derivatives or natural products, organotins(IV) with sulfur containing ligands such as thiones, thiosemicarbazones, dithiocarbamates, organotin(IV) compounds of oximes and organotins(IV) with amines or semicarbazones were screened for their anti-proliferative effect against various cancer cell lines and their results are included in numerous reports over this period. Although much work has been carried out on organotin(IV) derivatives with O-donor ligands, however significant fewer reports are found on organotins(IV) with oximes as ligands.