Potential Medicinal Applications of Vanadium and its Coordination Compounds in Current Research Prospects: A Review

Abstract

Background: The variety of biological applications of vanadium impressed researchers to develop vanadium based drugs. The most well-known fact of vanadium is that it is necessary for human beings as an insulin-enhancing agent and herein, we mainly provide an overview of vanadium-based drugs and their applications in the medicinal field for the treatment of diseases such as diabetes and cancer. The first part of this review is focused on mechanistic studies involved in the anti-diabetic activity. The latter part explains the use of vanadium and its related coordination compounds in the treatment of cancer. Methods: This review is purely based on literature search available in the database. We focused on the reports available on the recent advancements in the vanadium chemistry and its biological properties, mainly anti-diabetic and anticancer activities of vanadium based compounds. Results: The study of clinical trials of vanadium and its drug molecules imposed more demand due to their remarkable activity with less toxicity. Conclusion: A brief literature survey was made pertaining to the applications of vanadium compounds/ complexes. Particularly, special attention was paid to explaining mechanistic studies of vanadium based compounds in the treatment of diabetes and cancer.