Scientists in China have unveiled a way to deliver a platinum-based anticancer drug orally. The system, which works by protecting a prodrug from activation until it reaches the cancer cells, could help avoid the drug’s side effects.
The researchers incoporated an asplatin-cholesterol complex into biocompatible nanoparticles, which protect the drug from degrading before reaching the cancer cells
Platinum(IV)-based drugs are used to treat a range of cancers, often combined with other drugs. They are only reduced to the active platinum(II) drug once inside a cancer cell. Currently, healthcare workers administer platinum anticancer drugs through intravenous injections, which results in uncontrolled levels of the drug in the body and associated side effects. Administrating these drugs orally, however, would sustain an optimum concentration of the drug whilst boosting patient comfort and compliance. However, a downside is the prodrugs would be vulnerable to premature reduction into the active drug in the gastrointestinal tract. Read the full article in Chemistry World»
Read the original journal article in ChemComm – it’s free to read until 16 December:
Oral delivery of a platinum anticancer drug using lipid assisted polymeric nanoparticles
Qinqin Cheng, Hongdong Shi, Hai Huang, Zhiting Cao, Jun Wang and Yangzhong Liu
Chem. Commun., 2015, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C5CC07853A, Communication
