Chiral discrimination in platinum anticancer drugs.

In this article we review the biological activity of analogs of the antitumor drug cisplatin that contain chiral amine ligands. Interaction with DNA and formation of cross-links with adjacent purine bases are considered to be the crucial steps in the antitumor activity of this class of complexes. Because double-helical DNA has a chiral structure, interaction with enantiomeric complexes of platinum should lead to diastereomeric adducts. It has been demonstrated that DNA cross-links of platinum complexes with enantiomeric amine ligands not only can exhibit different conformational features but also can be processed differently by the cellular machinery as a consequence of these conformational differences. These results expand the general knowledge of how the stereochemistry of the platinum-DNA adduct can influence the cell response and contribute to understanding the processes that are crucial for antitumor activity. The steric requirements of the chiral ligands, in terms of configuration and flexibility, are also elucidated.