Tin based antitumour drugs [proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on the Effect of Tin upon Malignant Cell Growth held in Brussels, Belgium, July 16 - 20, 1989

Whereas platinum compounds are already clinically used as anticancer agents, tin compounds exhibiting high enough antitumour activity have not yet been found to enter the clinical phase. This is paradoxical with the observation that 50% of the tested compounds showed some activity, which is an abnormally high percentage. This is probably due to the fact that research of this type with tin compounds started more recently than with platinum compounds and that almost exclusively known compounds coming from laboratories working in the field of organotin compounds have been blindly tested. Some research directed towards the development of organotin compounds with some biologically favourable properties, for instance derivatives with hydrophilic or lipophilic, or with increased bio-availability characteristics, has started only recently. We thought that was now the appropriate time to bring together experts from different disciplines (biochemists, pharmacologists, organotin chemists, oncologists, etc.) working in the field of tin-based antitumour drugs, to contribute to the critical assessment of existing knowledge in this new important topic, to identify the directions for future research and to promote close working relations between the different countries and professional experiences gathered in this workshop. Front Matter....Pages I-VIII The Role of Non-Platinum Complexes in Cancer Therapy....Pages 1-68 Tin Compounds and their Potential as Pharmaceutical Agents....Pages 69-114 The Role of Tin Hormones in Senescence: A Hypothesis....Pages 115-146 The Speciation and Bioavailability of Tin in Biofluids....Pages 147-167 Cellular interactions of organotin compounds in relation to their antitumor activity....Pages 169-190 Selectivity of Antiproliferative Effects of Dialkyltin Compounds in Vitro and in Vivo....Pages 191-200 Computer Assisted Structure-Antileukemic Activity Correlations of Organotin Compounds and Initial Exploration of their Potential Anti-HIV Activity....Pages 201-217 Route of Administration is a Determinant of the Tissue Disposition and Effects of TBTO on Cytochrome P-450-Dependent Drug Metabolism....Pages 219-226 Back Matter....Pages 227-228 While platinum compounds are already clinically used as anticancer agents, tin compounds exhibiting high enough antitumour activity have not yet entered the clinical phase. This situation seems paradoxical since 50% of the tested tin compounds show some activity, an unusually high percentage. Clinical research on tin compounds started only recently, and known compounds coming from laboratories working in the field of organo-tin compounds seem to have been tested blindly. To remedy these problems, experts from different disciplines review their field and show the effects of tin compounds on the growth of cells and tissues, both normal and malignant, including the uptake of tin compounds and their migration in tissues Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on the Effect of Tin upon Malignant Cell Growth held in Brussels, Belgium, July 16-20, 1989