With the highest incidence,
breast cancer is the leading cause of
cancer deaths among women in the world.
Tumor metastasis is the major contributor of high mortality in
breast cancer, and the existence of cancer stem cells (CSCs) has been proven to be the cause of
tumor metastasis. CSCs are a small proportion of
tumor cells, and they are associated with self-renewal and tumorigenic potential. Given the significance of CSCs in
tumor initiation, expansion, relapse, resistance, and
metastasis, studies should investigate and discover effective
anticancer agents that can not only inhibit the proliferation of differentiated
tumor cells but also reduce the tumorigenic capability of CSCs. Thus, new
therapies must be discovered to treat and prevent this severely hazardous disease of human beings. The success of
platinum complexes in
cancer treatment has laid the basic foundation for the utilization of
metal complexes in the treatment of malignant
cancers, in particular the highly aggressive
triple-negative breast cancer. Importantly,
metal complexes currently have diverse and versatile competences in the therapeutic targeting of CSCs. The anti-CSC properties provide a strong impetus for the development of novel
metal-based compounds for the targeting of CSCs and treatment of
chemotherapy-resistant and relapsed
tumors. In this review, we provide the latest advances in
metal complexes including
platinum,
ruthenium,
osmium,
iridium,
manganese,
cobalt,
nickel,
copper,
zinc,
palladium, and
tin complexes against breast CSCs obtained over the past decade, with pertinent literature including those published until 2021.