New Platinum Drug can better kill Cancer Cells

By Saher Afshan Jul 17th, 2012 ( No Comment )

Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in US succeeded to drive a new drug which kills cancer cells better and is more effective alternative to cisplatin, the most commonly used approved platinum chemotherapy drug.
The Researchers at MIT who are testing phenanthriplatin, a new experimental drug based on platinum , say it kills cancer cells better and is more effective than cisplatin.

Platinum drugs are widely used in chemotherapy procedures against cancer .However they have toxic side effects and tumors can become resistant to them.

Cisplatin , the most common platinum chemotherapy drug ,was first approved in US in 1978. It is particularly adequate against testicular cancer and is also used to treat ovarian and some lung cancers adding lymphoma and other cancers.

In a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) ,senior author Stephen J Lippard and colleagues identifies other useful aspect of phenanthriplatin and suggest that It not only kill cancer cells more better than cisplatin but it may also evade cancer-cell resistance to to conventional platinum-based drugs.