As cancer is one of humanity’s biggest killers in the world, scientists have been looking for different drugs as agents to treat cancer. However, current chemotherapeutics is not sufficiently effective. Thiosemicarbazone complexes of transition metals have attracted wide attention due to a great effect of anticancer activity with different mechanisms including ribonucleotide reductase inhibition, metal dependent radical damage, DNA binding, and inhibition of protein synthesis, and so on. In this minireview, we summarize different metal chelators of thiosemicarbazones and their anticancer mechanisms, which are useful for the development of thiosemicarbazone as anticancer drugs.

The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is a kind of cell membrane surface receptor with tyrosine kinase activity, which is closely related to the growth, proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis, metastasis and other processes of tumor cells. Targeting EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors has become a hot topic for drug development for treatment of non-small-cell cancer (NSCLC). Herein, we summarized recent advances on the targeted therapeutic drugs for NSCLC in recent years.

Skin is the largest human organ, which always suffered from environmental stresses, as well as extrinsic and intrinsic noxious agents. Although skin can take different protective mechanisms to maintain balance, excessive stresses can disrupt these systems, resulting in the formation of skin cancers, including both melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers. Phytochemicals are biologically active compounds derived from plants and herbal products, which appear to be beneficial in the battle against cancer as they exhibit anti-cancer effects and are inexpensive, widely available, and well tolerated. Studies have demonstrated that phytochemicals can act on various cellular processes including cell cycle, apoptosis and redox metastasis to inhibit the development and progression of skin cancer. This article mainly focuses on the progress in anti-skin cancer activity of phytochemicals and underlying molecular mechanisms, which will hopefully provide valuable insights into clinical applications of phytochemicals for treatment of skin cancers.