Pharmacology and clinical applications of cis-platinum

Cis-platinum is one of the most efficacious platinum group metals. This agent is widely used in combination with cancer chemotherapy including urologic, gynecologic, esophageal, and head and neck cancers. The initial experience indicated dose-limiting renal nephrotoxicity. However, recent knowledge through animal and clinical experiments have led to finding ways to prevent the undesirable toxicities of this agent even in high doses. The clinical utilization of cisplatinum in various cancers, including testicular, ovarian, bladder, prostate, esophageal, have been encouraging. The use of high-dose cis-platinum (200 mg/m2) has had important therapeutic impact on patients with poor prognostic testicular cancer when compared with the conventional dosage (100 mg/m2). The current use and future potential of this anticancer metal and its potential analogs are reviewed.