Results from clinical trials and laboratory tests in Europe are suggesting that a number of platinum-based compounds will be potentially important for the future of cancer treatment.

The current research, led by Paul Dyson of the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Switzerland, centres on two ruthenium compounds known as NAM1-A and RAPTA-T, reports the RSC.

Cisplatin, the leading platinum-based antitumour drug since the 1970s, is more effective on primary tumours than on metastases, or secondary tumours, and until now, a breakthrough in secondary tumour treatment has been elusive.

The Swiss research has so far shown that a combination of NAM1-A and cisplatin has produced the greatest success rate in treating secondary tumours to date. In test-tube research on secondary lung tumours, a 60 per cent cure rate was observed, radically more effective than the use of cisplatin alone.

European cancer specialists welcomed the findings. Some experts have recommended that further research on the platinum compounds' interaction with cancerous cell proteins will help to identify treatment in which harm to healthy cells can be minimised.


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