A platinum(IV) prodrug strategy to overcome glutathione-based oxaliplatin resistance

Abstract

Platinum(IV) complexes have the potential to overcome several limitations and reduce adverse effects of platinum-based cancer therapy. Resistance to clinically approved platinum(II) drugs is, at least in part, associated with elevated levels of glutathione. Here, the authors report on an oxaliplatin-based platinum(IV) prodrug, which releases L-buthionine-S,R-sulfoximine, an inhibitor of the rate-limiting enzyme in glutathione biosynthesis, to circumvent glutathione-based resistance mechanisms.