A new platinum compound developed by US scientists could be more effective at fighting cancerous tumours than cisplatin, it was revealed on Monday (7th December).

Stephen Lippard and colleagues are championing the value of mitaplatin, which was created through a combination of cisplatin and another compound, dichloroacetate (DCA).

The inclusion of DCA is crucial as it can selectively change the properties of mitochondria in cancer cells, thus enhancing cisplatin's ability to kill them.

"This differential effect conveys on mitaplatin the ability to kill cancer cells selectively in a co-culture with normal fibroblast cells, the latter being unaffected at the doses that we apply," said Mr Lippard, who is the Arthur Amos Noyes Professor of Chemistry.

The researchers have already conducted tests on rodents, which revealed that they could withstand significantly higher doses of mitaplatin than cisplatin.

They will now continue by assessing mice which have been transplanted with human tissues, with a more in-depth study likely if this proves successful.

The results of the team's findings appear in this week's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal.

Platinum-based drugs are used to treat a number of different types of cancer and are generally believed to have improved defence lines against the disease.

Source:

New platinum compound shows promise in tumor cells (07/12/09)

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