It is well established that ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter-mediated multidrug resistance (MDR) is one of the major mechanisms that causes resistance to antineoplastic drugs in cancer cells. ABC transporters can significantly decrease the intracellular concentration of antineoplastic drugs by increasing their efflux, thereby lowering their cytotoxic activity. One of these transporters, t...

OBJECTIVES Several studies have shown that exposure to antineoplastic drugs can cause toxic effects on reproductive health as well as carcinogenic effects. Numerous studies have corroborated that hospital workers are exposed to these drugs. This study focused on trends in exposure to antineoplastic drugs since the introduction of guidelines in The Netherlands. METHODS Data from three cross-se...

Acute leukemia is the most common malignancy in children, and accounts for nearly 35% of all childhood cancers. Acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) constitutes about 20% of acute leukemias. Initially, treatment of AML involves the immediate management of emergencies associated as hyperleukocytosis, tumor lysis syndrome, hemorrhages and infections. Therefore we performed a retrospective, descriptiv...

Several factors can limit the use of therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) for cancer chemotherapeutic agents, including poorly defined concentration-effect relationships for many antineoplastic agents. This is further complicated by cancer being a highly heterogeneous group of diseases, each of which may have a unique concentration-effect relationship for any given drug or drug combination. Noneth...

The human immunodeficiency virus protease inhibitor ritonavir has recently been shown to have antineoplastic activity, and its use in urological malignancies is under investigation with an eye toward drug repositioning. Ritonavir is thought to exert its antineoplastic activity by inhibiting multiple signaling pathways, including the Akt and nuclear factor-kappaB pathways. It can increase the am...

Aging is associated with polymorbidity and polypharmacy. In the absence of a consensual definition, polypharmacy has been defined according to the number of drugs that an individual takes or to the presence of the risk of at least one severe drug interaction. In older cancer patients, polypharmacy is at least as common as it is in individuals of the same age without cancer. The management of ca...

Many commonly used drugs, with each causing changes that may be potentially lethal, can adversely affect the function of the heart. In addition some drugs have synergistic effects that can also damage cardiovascular tissues. The drug-related cardiotoxic effects of antineoplastic agents, psychotropic medications, heavy metals, substances of abuse, promotility agents, antihistamines, antimicrobia...