Review: Organotin compounds and their therapeutic potential: a report from the Organometallic Chemistry Department of the Free University of Brussels

An overview of the development of antitumour organotin derivatives is presented and discussed for selected classes of compounds, such as tetraorganodicarboxylatodistannoxanes and related diorganotin dicarboxylates, and for triorganotin carboxylates. Among the carboxylate groups used are steroidcarboxylates and other biologically relevant carboxylates. High to very high in vitro activities have been found, sometimes equalling that of doxorubicin. Solubility in water is an important issue, dominating the in vivo testing of compounds. Polar substituents, like fluorine or polyoxaalkyl moieties, improve the water solubility. Although organotin derivatives constitute a separate class of compounds, the comparison with cisplatin is inevitable. Among the observed toxicities, neurotoxicity, known from platinum cytostatics, and gastrointestinal toxicity, typical for many oncology drugs, have been detected, but to a lower extent. Further research to develop novel useful organotin antitumour compounds needs to be carried out. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.