Journal Club

摘要

Traditionally, the compounds we use to fight cancer come in two flavours. Inorganic drugs, such as cisplatin - a small molecule with a platinum core - are the workhorses of chemotherapy. They are generally highly toxic to ceils, not particularly selective, and are accompanied by side effects ranging from vomiting to kidney damage, Larger organic drugs offer a more targeted but weaker approach. They can selectively pick off key enzymes, but may work on only a narrow range of cancers.rnIn the search for more effective anticancer weaponry, hybrids of inorganic and organic components - organometallic drugs - are increasingly important. Once thought of as unstable, highly toxic species, these compounds are now being developed by chemists to treat a broad range of tumours and to overcome platinum-resistant cancer cells. Like organic drugs, they have a selective mode of action and so cause fewer side effects.