Gold compounds have been employed throughout history to treat various types of disease, from ancient times to the present day. In the year 1985,
auranofin, a
gold-containing compound, was approved by U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a therapeutic agent to target
rheumatoid arthritis that would facilitate easy
oral drug administration as opposed to conventional
intramuscular injection used in treatments. Furthermore,
auranofin demonstrates promising results for the treatment of various diseases beyond
rheumatoid arthritis, including
cancer,
neurodegenerative diseases,
acquired immune deficiency syndrome, and bacterial and
parasitic infections. Various potential novel applications for
auranofin have been proposed for treating human diseases.
Auranofin has previously been demonstrated to inhibit
thioredoxin reductase (TrxR) involved within the
thioredoxin (Trx) system that comprises one of the critical cellular redox systems within the body. TrxR comprises the sole known
enzyme that catalyzes Trx reduction. With
cancers in particular, TrxR inhibition facilitates an increase in cellular oxidative stress and suppresses
tumor growth. In this review, we describe the potential of
auranofin to serve as an
anticancer agent and further drug repurposing to utilize this as a strategy for further appropriate drug developments.