Metal complexes and nucleotide analogs: a proposal for the treatment of skin squamous cell carcinomas

Abstract

Squamous cell carcinoma of the skin (SCC) is one of the most prevalent tumors in humans, being classified as the second most common type of skin cancer. This type of tumor originates from the keratinocytes of the basal layer of the epidermis and usually manifests itself in areas of the body that are more exposed to the sun, such as the ears, face, nose, and neck. The treatments used for SCC are surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy. Patients with advanced SCC are often ineligible for curative surgery and radiotherapy. In many cases, the surgical procedure for treating SCC can mutilate the patient, which reinforces the importance and relevance of a specific chemotherapy alternative for its treatment. In this project, considering the experience of our group, we intend to study the syntheses of new metal complexes of Ag(I), Pt(II) and Cu(II) with nucleotide analogs and their derivatives, among other ligands commercially available and applied in clinical medicine, with potential application in the treatment of SCC.