Antitumor drugs 328 Subject

To date, around 20 000 articles on platinum complexes have been published an excellent approach to the subject can be found in the book by lippert [48], and overviews of metal antitumor agents can be found in the publications of Keppler [49], Sadler [50] or Clarke [51]. Despite this huge volume of work, the only inorganic complexes approved for clinical use as antitumor drugs are dsplatin, 8, carhoplatin, 9, nedaplatin, 10, and oxaliplatin, 11 (colorectal cancer) (Scheme 1.6). Several others are in clinical testing, and the mechanism of action has been examined [52]. 

Chourpa, 1., Beljebbar, A., Sockalingum, G.D., Riou, J.F. and Manfait, M. (1997) Structure-activity relation in camptothedn antitumor drugs Why a detailed molecular characterisation of their lactone and carboxylate forms by Raman and SERS spectroscopies Biochimica et Biophysica Acta-General Subjects, 1334,349-60. 

Experimental antitumor agents such as streptonigrin, bisthiosemicarbazones, and perhaps monothiosemicarbazones must form iron or copper complexes to become biologically active as catalysts of oxidant damage to cells. In sum, metal-based catalysis of redox reactions in cells describes a major topic in cancer therapeutics. Nevertheless, it has remained underdeveloped as a theme for study and application. The sections below provide a coordinated review and perspective on the subject of redox-active, metal-dependent drugs in cancer chemotherapy. 

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