ABSTRACT
The clinical success of cisplatin [1, 2] has been a major impetus for the evolution of a family of platinum anticancer drugs. Cisplatin and its analogue, carboplatin, are among the most commonly used antitumor drugs today [3]. Cisplatin is highly effective in the 1586treatment of testicular and ovarian cancers and is widely employed for managing bladder, cervical, head and neck, esophageal, and small-cell lung cancer. Like other chemotherapeutic agents, cisplatin has side effects including kidney toxicity, nausea, hearing impairment, and irreversible peripheral nerve damage [4–6]. Synthetic delivery systems have great potential for overcoming problems associated with systemic toxicity that accompanies chemotherapy, including platinum-based treatment [7]. Finding successful candidates and strategies for the delivery of platinum anticancer drugs has been a subject of extensive research. To reduce side effects and target tumor tissue, we [8–10] and others [11, 12] have been investigating a variety of nanoparticulate delivery vehicles over the past several years. Polyvalent oligonucleotide gold nanoparticle conjugates (DNA-AuNPs) have appealing properties for drug delivery applications, including high cellular uptake in a variety of cell types, no demonstrated toxicity inherent to the conjugate, and resistance to enzymatic degradation [13–15].
