ABSTRACT
Cis-diamminedichloroplatinum (cisplatin) is a potent chemotherapeutic agent that is widely used for the treatment of many malignancies. Cisplatin was first synthesized in 1844 by Peyrone who named the compound “Peyrone’s chloride” (Peyrone, 1844). The elucidation of its chemical structure formed the basis for the Nobel prize winning work of Albert Werner (Werner, 1911). However, it was not until 1965 that the therapeutic potential of platinum-based agents became evident. Rosenberg and colleagues (Rosenberg et al., 1965) serendipitously discovered that exposure of Escherichia coli to an electric field inhibited bacterial proliferation, and found that this effect was due to the formation of a neutral, tetravalent platinum compound (diamminedichloroplatinum) created by electrolysis of the platinum-containing electrode placed into the ammonium chloride rich bacterial culture medium. Numerous studies subsequently demonstrated that it was predominantly the cis isomer of diamminedichloroplatinum (named cisplatin) that was responsible for inhibiting bacterial growth (Howle and Gale, 1970a, 1970b; Rosenberg et al., 1965, 1967, 1969). Cisplatin was shown to also inhibit the proliferation of mammalian cells (Harder and
Rosenberg, 1970; Rosenberg and VanCamp, 1970; Rosenberg et al., 1969) and to slow the growth of metastatic germ cell (ovarian and testicular) tumors in humans (Ellerby et
al., 1974; Hayat et al., 1979; Higby et al., 1974). These findings led to the development of cisplatin as a chemotherapeutic agent.
