Even with the advent of various treatment modalities, colorectal cancer (CRC) remains one of the leading causes of cancer morbidity and mortality worldwide. A widely used treatment for metastatic CRC—platinum-based chemotherapy—is hampered by the lack of selectivity, inducing adverse side effects in patients, and the emergence of drug resistance, severely limiting their therapeutic efficacy. To overcome these limitations, researchers are exploring the potential of gold complexes as a promising alternative to treat CRC. Gold complexes have demonstrated potent anticancer activity, particularly through the inhibition of thioredoxin reductase (TrxR), an antioxidant enzyme that is often upregulated in solid tumor cancers such as CRC. Herein, this review provides an overview of CRC and discusses the recent advances of gold complexes along with their modes of action in targeting CRC cells.

中文翻译：

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金配合物及其在结直肠癌中的分子靶点

即使出现了各种治疗方式，结直肠癌（CRC）仍然是全球癌症发病率和死亡率的主要原因之一。转移性结直肠癌广泛使用的治疗方法——铂类化疗——由于缺乏选择性、引起患者不良副作用以及耐药性的出现而受到阻碍，严重限制了其治疗效果。为了克服这些限制，研究人员正在探索金络合物作为治疗结直肠癌的有希望的替代方案的潜力。金复合物已显示出有效的抗癌活性，特别是通过抑制硫氧还蛋白还原酶 (TrxR)，硫氧还蛋白还原酶是一种抗氧化酶，在结直肠癌等实体瘤癌症中经常上调。在此，本综述概述了 CRC，并讨论了金配合物的最新进展及其针对 CRC 细胞的作用模式。