Cisplatin is responsible for abnormally low zinc levels in patients undergoing chemotherapy, say scientists in China and the UK.
Platinum-based compounds, like cisplatin, are the most widely used anticancer drugs in medicine. Research shows that up to 98 per cent of cisplatin binds to blood plasma proteins, particularly albumin. Until now, little has been known about the specific binding sites for platinum on albumin. ‘Since albumin plays a major role in cisplatin metabolism, a better understanding of its interactions with albumin should lead to more effective use of the drug and avoidance or control of side effects,’ says Peter Sadler from the University of Warwick, in the UK.
 Cisplatin (structure in the middle) reacts with recombinant human albumin (rHA) (blue and green structures) to create a cisplatin-rHA adduct, which displaces zinc, causing a deficiency |
Together with Fuyi Wang’s team from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, Sadler used mass spectroscopy techniques to reveal that cisplatin reacts with recombinant human albumin (rHA) to create a cisplatin-rHA adduct. The platinum occupies zinc binding sites on the albumin, displacing the zinc, which causes hypozincemia (lack of zinc for metabolic processes) and hyperzincuria (increased zinc in urine).
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