Selenium–Platinum Coordination Compounds as Novel Anticancer Drugs: Selectively Killing Cancer Cells via a Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS)-Mediated Apoptosis Route

Graphical Selenium helps target cancer : We report a selective anticancer system based on the coordination between selenide and cisplatin. The system induces cell apoptosis in a different way from cisplatin. By selectively inducing different reactive oxygen species (ROS) concentrations in cancer cells and normal cells, the system kills cancer cells 18 times faster than that of normal cells (see figure). en We report the preparation of selenium-containing platinum-based anticancer drug EG-Se/Pt. EG-Se/Pt was obtained from the coordination of selenium-containing molecules (EG-Se) with cisplatin (CDDP). The structure of EG-Se/Pt was characterized by 1 H and 77 Se NMR spectroscopy, XPS, ESI-MS, and MALDI-TOF. In aqueous solution, EG-Se/Pt self-assembles to form spherical aggregates. EG-Se/Pt shows enhanced stability against dilution and high salt concentration compared with EG-Se. EG-Se/Pt induces cell apoptosis via reactive oxygen species (ROS), which leads to high selectivity between cancer cells and normal cells in cytotoxicity assays. More importantly, EG-Se/Pt effectively inhibits tumor growth in vivo in tumor-bearing mice. It is anticipated that tuning the ROS level through the assembly of selenium-containing molecules can be a general method to realize anticancer selectivity. zh 1