Introduction Macrolides have been considered as potential antineoplastic and immunomodulatory agents. As antineoplastic agents, macrolides show anti-lymphoproliferative effects.[1] Various lymphoid malignancies, such as mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma,[2] follicular B-cell lymphoma,[3] diffuse large B-cell lymphoma,[4] Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia (WM),[5] multiple myeloma ...

Infections represent a well-known complication of antineoplastic chemotherapy that may cause delay of treatment, with alteration of the antineoplastic program and dose-intensity, or even the death of a patient that could heal from his/her neoplasia. Bacterial infections are a major cause of morbidity and mortality in patients who are neutropenic following chemotherapy for malignancy. Therefore ...

The study reported herein utilized the Agrobacterium tumefaciens-induced potato disc tumor assay. The objective was to verify the detection of antineoplastic activity in the potato disc tumor induction assay, regardless of the mode of antineoplastic drug action. Camptothecin, paclitaxel, podophyllin, vinblastine and vincristine were tested, each with a different mode of action. All drugs tested...

Fourteen antineoplastic agents were examined for in vitro antibacterial activity against 101 aerobic and anaerobic bacterial isolates representing indigenous human microflora and selected opportunistic pathogens. Only 5-fluorouracil, mitomycin, and etoposide demonstrated inhibitory effects at achievable plasma concentrations, while the remaining drugs lacked appreciable antibacterial activities.

Regional antineoplastic drug delivery is not a new concept. Following the initial recognition that cytotoxic alkylating agents could cause shrinkage of tumor masses and a reduction in the quantity of malignant ascites in patients with advanced ovarian cancer, investigators in the 1950s instilled the drugs directly into the peritoneal cavity in an effort to treat the malignancy (1). Similarly, i...