Transition Metal based Anticancer drug : A Review on Current Cancer Chemotherapy Drugs.

Chemotherapy is one of the most common treatments for cancer. It uses certain drugs to kill cancer cells or to stop them from growing and spreading to other parts of your body. Your doctor might prescribe chemo by itself or with surgery or radiation therapy.More than 50 percent of cancer patients are treated with platinum complexes viz cisplatin, carboplatin and oxaliplatin. Cisplatin; cis-Diamminedichloroplatinum (II), the best chemotherapeutic agents is frequently used in the treatment of various types of cancers like sarcomas, carcinomas, lymphomas and germ cell tumors. Mode of action of cisplatin is related to its ability to form 1, 2 - intrastrand crosslink with DNA nucleotide. Clinically, the complexes of platinum are used as adjunct therapy in cancers that directly focuses to induce cell apoptosis. Platinum based drugs are like the backbone of metallo drugs as they can damage DNA by interfering with DNA repair mechanisms which induces apoptosis in cancer cells. This review mainly discuss about the chemotherapeutic properties of cisplatin and other platinum drugs in the treatment of various human cancers. Deep understanding of mechanisms of action of anticancer agents might lead to develop more efficient and well organized platinum antitumor drugs and therapeutically provide new opportunities in cancer treatment. Extensive research is underway to understand the role of metal complexes in cancer treatment.