Multidimensional Exploration of Platinum Complexes for Cancer Therapy

Platinum complexes play an important role in contemporary cancer therapy. The rational design of modern anticancer platinum complexes is largely based on the hallmarks of cancers, such as resistance to cell death, reprogramming of energy metabolism, angiogenesis, metastasis, and immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME). Platinum complexes are evolving from DNA-targeted pure chemotherapeutics to multitarget multifunctional anticancer drugs. Diverse platinum complexes with distinct cellular or molecular targets intervene in cancerous or immune cells through different mechanisms, displaying potent anticancer activities and clinical translation potential. Multimodal platinum complexes that integrate chemotherapy, immunotherapy, photodynamic therapy (PDT), sonodynamic therapy (SDT), or radiotherapy in one molecule provide new options for precise cancer treatment via synergy. This review summarizes a variety of platinum complexes designed according to different mechanisms aiming to improve therapeutic efficacy and minimize side effects of existing platinum drugs. The information is mainly extracted from representative literature published since 2020. These complexes represent the diversified development of platinum anticancer drugs in the present era.