<h3>Title</h3>
<h3>Towards Bleomycin-Platinum Glycoconjugates for Targeted Chemotherapy: An Odyssey in Carbohydrate Chemistry</h3>
<p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Abstract</span> :</strong></p>
<p>Cancer is the second leading cause of fatalities worldwide. The serendipitous discovery of anticancer activity of Cisplatin in 1965 by Prof. Rosenberg ushered in a new era of cancer chemotherapy. It is the preferred choice of treatment against a large variety of cancers. Despite its clinical success, cisplatin treatment has some drawbacks. Adverse side effects like nephrotoxicity, ototoxicity, anaemia are commonly observed in patients undergoing chemotherapy.</p>
<p>In this context, the selective accumulation of the cytotoxic drug at the tumor site is highly desirable to achieve improved efficacy and minimal side-effects. Glucose metabolism is typically upregulated in cancer cells as compared to the normal cells (Warburg Effect). An overexpression of Glucose Transporter (GLUT) family of proteins is observed in the cancer cells. GLUTs have emerged as an attractive target for a large number of targeted anticancer strategies.  Recently, the disaccharide moiety of anticancer drug Bleomycin A<sub>5 </sub>has been reported to exhibit preferential uptake in cancer cells <sup>[1,2]</sup>. However, there is contradiction in the chemical literature about the minimal epitope of this disaccharide which is necessary and sufficient for imparting the observed selectivity <sup>[3]</sup>. We have therefore decided to investigate this problem by carrying out a structure-activity relationship study on the bleomycin disaccharide. In this talk I will discuss about the synthetic problems faced during the journey from the starting molecules to the target sugar-platinum conjugates.</p>
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<p>References:</p>
<ol>
<li>Zhiqiang Yu.; Ryan M. Schmaltz.; Trevor C. Bozeman.; Rakesh Paul.; Michael J. Rishel.; Krystal S. Tsosie.; Sidney M. Hecht. <em> Am. Chem. Soc</em>. <strong>2013</strong>, 135, 2883−2886</li>
<li>Benjamin R. Schroeder.; M. Imran Ghare.; Chandrabali Bhattacharya.; Rakesh Paul.; Zhiqiang Yu.; Paul A. Zaleski.; Trevor C. Bozeman.; Michael J. Rishel.; Sidney M. Hecht. <em> Am. Chem. Soc</em>. <strong>2014</strong>, 136, 13641−13656</li>
<li>Zhou Cui.; Ye Wenchong.; Wang Xiaoyang <em>European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry</em>. <strong>2021</strong>, 226, 112866.</li>
</ol>