Abstract: Polyamines having the formula:
or a salt thereof with a pharmaceutically acceptable acid wherein: R1-R6 may be the same or different and are alkyl, aryl, aryl alkyl, cycloalkyl, optionally having an alkyl chain interrupted by at least one etheric oxygen atom, or hydrogen;
N1, N2, N3 and N4 are nitrogen atoms capable of protonation at physiological pH's;
a and b may be the same or different and are integers from 1 to 4;
A, B and C may be the same or different and are bridging groups which effectively maintain the distance between the nitrogen atoms such that the polyamines:
(i) are capable of uptake by a target cell upon administration thereof to a human or non-human animal; and
(ii) upon uptake by the target cell, competitively bind via an electrostatic interaction between the positively charged nitrogen atoms to substantially the same biological counter-anions as the intracellular natural polyamines in the target cell;
the polyamines, upon binding to the biological counter-anion