The most commonly reported reason for errors is that a syringe containing a vinca alkaloid is mistaken for a syringe containing an intrathecal medication. Very few medications, including chemotherapeutic agents, can be administered safely into the intrathecal space. Most intrathecal chemotherapy errors involve the accidental injection of vincristine; however, all of the vinca alkaloids (vinblas...

Vinca alkaloids are used extensively in the treatment of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and despite their usefulness, drug resistance remains a serious clinical problem. Vinca alkaloids bind to the beta-tubulin subunit of the alpha/beta-tubulin heterodimer and inhibit polymerization of microtubules. Recent studies have implicated altered beta-tubulin isotype expression and mutatio...

In two hamster cell lines that differed 100-fold in their vinblastine sensitivity, dissolution of the mitotic spindle by vinblastine in living cells correlated with cytotoxicity from vinblastine expressed as suppression of colony formation. The effect on the spindle apparatus occurred in 30 sec or less and thus provides a rapid assay for determining the cytotoxic effects of the Vinca alkaloids,...

Naturally occurring vinca alkaloids, vincristine and vinblastine, at micromolar concentrations enhanced the ornithine decarboxylase activity in a dose-response manner in primary cultures of Ehrlich ascites carcinoma cells. After 8 h of culture in the presence or absence of vinblastine, cycloheximide was added to the medium, a 4.5-fold increase in the half-life of the ornithine decarboxylase act...

BACKGROUND Catastrophic errors in healthcare are rare, yet the consequences are so serious that where possible, special procedures are put in place to prevent them. As systems become safer, it becomes progressively more difficult to detect the remaining vulnerabilities. Using inadvertent intrathecal administration of vinca alkaloids as an example, we investigated whether analysis of incident re...

Vinca rosea (Catharanthus roseus L.) is native to the Caribbean Basin and has historically been used to treat a wide assortment of diseases. European herbalists used the plant for conditions as varied as headache to a folk remedy for diabetes. The objective of the study is to evaluate the diabetic wound healing activity of Vinca rosea using the excision wound model in a streptozotocin induced d...

Tubulin vinca-domain ligands can inhibit microtubule polymerization, causing cell death in mitosis, and their potential against multiple cancer types has been demonstrated. However, due to drug resistance toxicities, development of novel is still needed. In this study, we determined the high-resolution crystal structures vinorelbine, YXD, Phomopsin A complex with tubulin at 2.5 Å. Additionally,...

Vinca alkaloids used in anticancer therapy are the well-known vinblastine and vincristine as classical antitumor agents. These dimeric molecules consist of two monomers, vindoline catharanthine, which have no particular activity on their own. The goal our research work was to obtain derivatives one these, vindoline, resulted with important antiproliferative effect. This type were hybrids; conju...