The Bombay Technologist

Platinum in Pumpkin Shaped Molecules for Anticancer Drug Delivery

Ashish Amolkumar Khinvasara

Pharmaceutical Science and Technology Department

Sumedh Varad Joshi

Pharmaceutical Science and Technology Department

Keywords: Cancer, Drug Delivery, Cytotoxicity, Cucurbituril, Platinum, Cisplatin, Oxaliplatin.

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Abstract

Despite the synthesis of hundreds of new platinum (II) and platinum (IV)-based complexes each year as potential anticancer drugs, only three have received world-wide approval: cisplatin, carboplatin and oxaliplatin. The next big advance in platinum-based chemotherapy is not likely to come from the development of new drugs, but from the controlled and targeted delivery of already approved drugs or those in late stage clinical trials. Encapsulation of platinum drugs inside macromolecules has already demonstrated promise, and encapsulation within cucurbit[n]urils has shown particular potential. Partial or full encapsulation within cucurbit[n]urils provides steric hindrance to drug degradation by peptides and proteins, and the use of different sized cucurbit[n]urils allows for the tuning of drug release rates, cytotoxicity and toxicity.