Bleomycin is an antitumor antibiotic isolated from a strain of Streptomyces verticillus in 1966. It has been used successfully to treat a variety of tumors, including squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck, cervix, and esophagus, as well as germ cell tumors and Hodgkin’s and non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas. The major limitation of bleomycin therapy is the potential for developing life-threatening...

To elucidate the pathophysiology of pulmonary fibrosis, we investigated the involvement of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), which is one of the major signal transduction pathways of proinflammatory cytokines, in a murine model of bleomycin-induced lung fibrosis. p38 MAPK and its substrate, activating transcription factor (ATF)-2, in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid cells were phosphoryl...

Proton NMR studies at 360 MHz establish the binary Fe(II)-bleomycin complex to be paramagnetic with a spectrum covering 70 ppm. Addition of carbon monoxide generates a stable, diamagnetic Fe(II)-bleomycin-CO complex that is a putative structural analog of the "active" Fe(II)-bleomycin-O2 complex. The following six groups have been determined to be coordinated to the Fe(II) ion from analysis of ...

AIM OF THE STUDY The present study examined the antifibrosis effects of DBTG (total glucosides of Danggui-Buxue-Tang) on bleomycin-induced pulmonary injury and fibrosis in rats. MATERIALS AND METHODS Animals were randomly divided into six groups: (1) saline control group; (2) Bleomycin group in which rats were endotracheally instillated with bleomycin (5mg/kg); (3-5) Bleomycin and DBTG group,...

Surfactant protein A (SP-A) plays a role in host defense and inflammation in the lung. In the present study, we investigated the hypothesis that SP-A is involved in bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis. We studied the effects of human SP-A on bleomycin-induced cytokine production and mRNA expression in THP-1 macrophage-like cells and obtained the following results. 1) Bleomycin-treated THP-1 ce...

A bleomycin mixture which contained A2 as the main component and B2 as the second component was tritiated. The 3H-bleomycin thus prepared was subcutaneously injected to mice and the distribution of the bleomycin among organs of mice was determined. The results indicated a high concentration in skin and peritoneum. The concentrations determined by radioactivity were higher than those determined ...

Bleomycin, a chemotherapeutic agent, can cause pulmonary fibrosis in humans and is commonly used to induce experimental pulmonary fibrosis in rodents. In cell culture, bleomycin causes single- and double-stranded DNA breaks and produces reactive oxidative species, both of which require iron (Fe(2+)) and O(2). The mechanism of bleomycin-induced apoptosis is controversial due to its complexity. W...

The present study aimed to determine whether artesunate has beneficial effects on bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis in rats and to examine the possible mechanisms underlying these effects. All experiments were performed with male Sprague Dawley rats weighing 180-250 g. Animals were randomly divided into four experimental groups that were administered either saline alone, artesunate alone, bl...

The antibiotic bleomycin stimulates deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) synthesis in toluene-treated Escherichia coli cells. The increase in synthesis is linear with bleomycin concentration. Bleomycin-stimulated DNA synthesis is independent of replication and dependent on DNA polymerase I. Replication is spared as the DNA polymerase I-dependent DNA synthesis increases. Bleomycin does not appear to have...

Bleomycin is considered to be a useful model compound for studying environmental carcinogenesis, due to its broad spectrum of DNA damaging properties. In addition, bleomycin is a useful antitumor drug because of its cytotoxic properties. To investigate the influence of the antioxidant N-acetylcysteine and its metabolites glutathione and cysteine on bleomycin-induced DNA damage and more importan...