Platinum compounds: Their continued impact on ovarian cancer treatment

[Display omitted] Ovarian cancer treatment became ‘platinum-based’ with the approval of cisplatin by the United States Food & Drug Administration (FDA) in 1979 based on work sponsored by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). The drug proved to be dramatically effective in spite of its usually advanced stage at diagnosis. Emesis and nephro-, neuro- and oto-toxicities were major challenges frequently faced by patients during treatment. Carboplatin retained the efficacy of cisplatin against ovarian and other related cancers and displaced cisplatin as part of standard treatment during the last three decades. Refinements in treatment of these cancers have more recently come from understanding the role of DNA repair deficiencies as the cause of vulnerability to these platinum drugs, and the integration of drugs inhibiting cellular repair mechanisms, and finally by targeting the tumor micro-environment to recruit new blood vessels and cellular immunity.