CISPLATIN: A BEACON OF HOPE IN CANCER TREATMENT - UNVEILING THE POTENT ALKYLATING ANTINEOPLASTIC AGENT

Ankur Vashi* and Akhilesh Kumar Kuril

ABSTRACT

Over the past 60 years, alkylating compounds have been utilized to treat cancer, and their uses are still growing. At every step of the cell cycle, these substances directly affect DNA by crosslinking the N-7-guanine residues, which results in DNA strand breakage, aberrant base pairing, the suppression of cell division, and, in the end, cell death. An alkylating agent is an alkylating antineoplastic agent if it attaches an alkyl group (CnH2n+1) to DNA. It is applied to cancer patients. Cisplatin, also known as (SP-4-2)-diamminedichloridoplatinum (II), is one of the most promising and widely used drugs for the treatment of a number of solid tumors, including testicular, ovarian, head and neck, bladder, lung, cervical, melanoma, lymphomas, and numerous others. Although there are several methods that cisplatin exerts its anticancer effects, the most likely one involves interacting with purine bases on DNA to cause DNA lesions, which then trigger several signal transduction pathways and, in the end, apoptosis.

Keywords: Cancer, Cisplatin, Platinum resistance, Toxicity, Alkylating agent, etc.