The lawsuits with antineoplastic drugs generate high costs for governments and require careful analysis to ensure efficient and adequate health results. This study analyzed cases conducted by federal entities to a reference institute for the treatment of cancer for technical opinion. Data were collected from copies of the cases examined from July 1 to December 31, 2013. It was analyzed: therape...

Arsenic-based compounds have become accepted agents for cancer therapy providing high rates of remission of some cancers such as acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL). The mechanisms by which arsenic-containing compounds kill cells and reasons for selective killing of only certain types of cancer cells such as APLs have recently been delineated. This knowledge was gained in parallel with increasin...

During the past decades conclusive evidence has accumulated that alkylating antineoplastic drugs (ADs) can cause cancer, most notably acute non-lymphocytic leukaemia, and that most ADs are reprotoxic. Studies on health workers handling ADs have shown significantly increased risks for miscarriages (two studies) and malformations (two studies). The present study monitored the risk for cancer and ...

The antineoplastic agents methotrexate and 5-fluorodeoxyuridine induce DNA lesions, although the drugs are not incorporated into DNA. The lesions arise as a result of reduced repair of damage occurring in DNA independently of the treatment with antineoplastic agents. When cells containing DNA lesions are treated with calmodulin inhibitors (W-7, phenothiazine, promethazine), the amount of lesion...

PROLOGUE This paper discusses the scientific rationale, synthesis, therapeutic utility and clinical limitations of cancer chemotherapy with antineoplastic drugs or toxins covalently linked to monoclonal antibodies directed against tumor cell antigens. Chemical issues that must be considered when designing an effective antineoplastic immunoconjugate or immunotoxin (including purity, functional g...

Experimental data indicate that several pharmacological agents that have long been used for the management of various diseases unrelated to cancer exhibit profound in vitro and in vivo anticancer activity. This is of major clinical importance, since it would possibly aid in reassessing the therapeutic use of currently used agents for which clinicians already have experience. Further, this would...

Potential difference across the cell membrane and intracellular activity of the potassium ion in rat liver cells were measured simultaneously using double-barreled potassium ion-selective microelectrodes. Both potential difference across the membrane and K+ activity in liver cells were depressed after treatment with the antineoplastic agents mitomycin C and 5-Flourouracil Dry Syrup, suggesting ...