TP53 and cancer: In the current study, taxol-resistant, cisplatin-resistant and p53-deficient cancer cells from different origins, including breast cancer MCF-7, colon cancer HCT-8 and lung cancer A549 taxol-sensitive/resistant cells, ovarian cancer A2780, gastric cancer SGC-7901, OV2008 and C13 cisplatin-sensitive/resistant cells, and p53-wild-type/deficient colon cancer cells, HCT116 were adopted to evaluate the therapeutic potential of complexes 1–6 towards multidrug-resistant cancers.