Multi-nuclear platinum complexes as anti-cancer drugs

This article reviews investigations over the last 15 years into the development of multi-nuclear platinum complexes as anti-cancer agents, with the purpose of providing an insight into the benefits of, and reasons for, their success. The cytotoxicity of multi-nuclear platinum complexes is compared, as is their ability to overcome both natural and acquired drug resistance. Possible structure-activity relationships are outlined. While the multi-nuclear platinum complexes exhibit excellent anti-cancer activity, the associated toxicity could limit their clinical use. Given that these complexes derive their activity from the novel adducts they form with DNA, three important aspects of their binding are discussed; their DNA pre-association, the DNA adducts formed and the DNA conformational changes induced. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.