Selenosteroids - promising hybrid compounds with pleiotropic biological activity: synthesis and biological aspects.

Abstract It is established that steroid based agents are an example of compounds obtained from natural patterns and are of great importance due to their application in the prevention and treatment of diseases. Selenosteroids are hybrids formed by attaching Se-moiety to a steroid molecule. In these types of hybrids, selenium can be present as selenide or as a part of selenosemicarbazones, isoselenocyanates, selenourea, etc. Attaching a Se-moiety to a biologically active steroid might enhance the biological properties of both fragments. Available literature indicates that these kinds of hybrids demonstrate significant anticancer activity, which renders them interesting in terms of medical use. In this review, we present various methods of synthesis and demonstrate that seleno-steroid compounds are promising molecules for further pharmaceutical application.