A new study published this week has suggested that a new class of platinum-phosphate compounds can kill ovarian, testicular, head and neck cancer cells more effectively than more conventional drugs.

Traditional treatments such as cisplatin and carboplatin do not enter the cell nucleus to attach to DNA and can interfere with enzyme mechanisms, leading to the possibility of hearing and hair loss and kidney dysfunction.

However, the research, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, hints at the possibility that the phosphaplatins kill a cancerous cell by binding onto its membrane and sending a 'death signal' to its interior.

Lead author Rathindra Bose, a Professor of Biomedical Sciences and Chemistry and Vice President for Research at Ohio University, said: "The findings suggest a paradigm shift in potential molecular targets for platinum anticancer drugs and in their strategic development."

Professor Bose - who carried out the research at Northern Illinois University - also explained that the phosphaplatins have the ability to kill ovarian cancer cells at just half the dosage of more conventional drugs.

Cisplatin, for instance, is 95 per cent effective but offers its best results in the disease's early stages, often decomposing quickly and creating toxic side effects, while patients can also build a resistance.

Other drugs such as carboplatin and oxaliplatin - which can harm a patient's immune system - have also been used but the phosphaplatin displayed none of these attributes after seven days' application.

Source:

New platinum-phosphate compounds kill ovarian cancer cells (19/11/08)
http://news.research.ohiou.edu/news/index.php?item=526