Identification and characterization of metallodrug binding proteins by (metallo)proteomics

The success of cisplatin in clinic has stimulated great interest in the development and application of metal-based drugs for therapeutic and diagnostic purposes. However, the treatment efficiency of metallodrugs suffers from side-effects and drug resistance. To overcome these challenges, targets of these metal-based drugs should be identified in order to understand the molecular mechanisms of actions of these compounds and to the intrinsic or acquired drug resistance by cancer cells and infectious microbes. This review summaries some of the recent developments in the identification of binding proteins and their target sites of platinum-, ruthenium-, gold-, arsenic- and bismuth-containing agents by proteomics and metalloproteomics, which may provide a rational basis for the design of new metal-based drugs.