ISPCC X took place in Verona, Italy in 2007, and its deliberations were followed by a volume published by Humana Press (1) and by an overview of such a meeting in Gynecologic Oncology (2). Subsequently, a planned meeting ran into economic woes and compounded by logistical issues, prompting a rescue effort by a large cadre of enthusiastic past participants, and by the hosts of the preceding meeting. This gave rise to ISPCC XI that was held in October 11-14, 2012, and covering themes that are represented in updated form within this issue of Anticancer Research. We thank the publisher, John Delinasios for invaluable editorial assistance in these submissions.
Since the outset of ISPCC meetings, chemists continue to explore novel structures and ligands that modify platinum chemistry, and the same goes on to a lesser scale with other heavy metals. The inspiration behind these pursuits is, of course, the discovery of the anticancer actions of cisplatin by Barnett Rosenberg in 1965 – as further detailed in this issue by James Hoeschle who became one of his students at Michigan States Department of Microbiology. At the 2012 meeting, and exemplified by structures that have been recently introduced, several new compounds are being studied to explore aspects of their biological activity that may differ from the parent compounds. Dicycloplatin, phenanthriplatin, phosplatin, and liposomal formulations are under development, as are new studies with gold and ruthenium compounds. Competing market priorities make studies in this area challenging, albeit the success of the meeting is proof of continued interest in the biological activity of these agents.
Major aspects of laboratory investigations relate to DNA repair, development of resistance, implications for collateral sensitivity, and identification of toxicity protection. These areas were covered in depth at this and the preceding meeting (those not covered in this issue did appear in part in 2009, references 3-5), and are partly covered by the current articles. The clinical implications from the insight provided by these studies continue to mount: DNA repair pathways are being delineated as tumor genomes are deciphered, tumors lacking homologous recombination repair have become targets not only of cisplatin but also inhibitors of poly-ADP-ribose-polymerase (PARP), and further identification of cellular transporters are now being targeted to overcome resistance or, if specific to certain tissues – such as the cochlea or the renal tubules—to protect these cells against known clinical toxicities.
Progress in treatment with platinum compounds continues to take place, as these drugs often occupy center stage in the management of germ cell tumors and cancers of gynecological, urogenital, aerodigestive and respiratory tracts. Understanding what contributes to neurotoxicity, a major dose-limiting toxicity of cisplatin and oxaliplatin, is the focus of a continued review in this volume, and new areas include prevention of hypersensitivity reactions and depression associated with cumulative use of platinums. As an example, their evolving role in ovarian cancer and in colorectal cancers is described.
Technology has simplified communications and discovery. However, much of medical progress builds on past knowledge and on constructive discussion by committed researchers, and we hope that disseminating these recordings may prove useful in cementing these achievements.
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