Damage mechanisms of anticancer agents: Platinum-based drugs and copper complexes

Cisplatin and carboplatin, which belong to the platinum based-drugs family are accustomed to treat various types of cancers. Although they have been used widely in chemotherapy, cisplatin and carboplatin are confronting some issues such as toxicities and drugs resistances. Therefore, designing a new drug without those issues is a challenge. In this study, the technique of Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) is employed in order to research the modification to guanine when cisplatin or carboplatin bound. The success in clinical use of cisplatin has put metal-based drugs on the first row for cancer treatment. Other than platinum complexes, copper complexes gain major attraction to many scientists. It has been proposed that copper carries less toxic, so copper complexes are potential anticancer agents. Infrared and Raman spectroscopic techniques are engaged to obtain vibrational spectra of copper complexes. Also, SERS technique is utilized to explore the interaction of four new copper complexes with guanine or adenine. The findings show that when either cisplatin or carboplatin is added to guanine, the guanine spectral changes within the range of 400 and 1800 frequencies. Moreover, new copper complexes also express the guanine or adenine spectral changes in the same range.