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Mechanisms of Different Anticancer Drugs
Published in Anjana Pandey, Saumya Srivastava, Recent Advances in Cancer Diagnostics and Therapy, 2022
Anjana Pandey, Saumya Srivastava
The history of organized clinical chemotherapy era started from World War I, though, it includes the warfare agents together known as mustard gases. In a study done by Edward B. Krumbhaar and group, the effects of mustard gas were seen on fighters who were killed due to exposure of this agent (Jarrell et al., 2020). The results, obtained from 75 post-mortems, it was revealed that an extreme decrease of leucocyte cells had occurred along with other phenomena. Simultaneous research was conducted at the U.S. Chemical Warfare Service on mustard gases. In this study, rabbits were injected with a lethal limit of doses and a prominent drop in leucocyte numbers was observed immediately along with bone marrow damage (Jones, 2014). Cancer cells characteristically multiply faster than the healthy cells, with a few exceptions; therefore, cytotoxins that control cell division have more effect on cancers than normal cells. The realization that leucopenia was due to the mustard gases imposing damage to fast-dividing cells and its cancer controlling ability was then legally followed after World War II (an era of first clinical chemotherapy trials) (Einhorn, 1985; Ghanei and Vosoghi, 2002). Originally, b-chloroethyl sulfides and its analogs, b-chloroethyl amines, were considered which later switched to dozens of mustard gas analogs. This eventually directed the final assimilation of “nitrogen mustards” in standard chemotherapy regimens. Mechlorethamine, the simplest and foremost candidate of this class, is still used for the treatment of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and its structural relatives are used for other cancer treatment such as cyclophosphamide for leukemia, breast, lung cancer, and ovarian cancer, chlorambucil for chronic lymphocytic leukemia treatment, and melphalan for multiple myeloma and ovarian cancer management (Baguley and Kerr, 2001).
Cytotoxicity and pharmacokinetics study of nanostructured lipid carriers of mechlorethamine: Preparation, optimization and characterization
Published in Particulate Science and Technology, 2020
Bina Gidwani, Amber Vyas, Chanchal Deep Kaur
Mechlorethamine is a bi-functional alkylating agent used in the treatment of leukemia and lymphoma (Calabresi and Chabner 1996). The rate of degradation is dependent upon conditions like pH, temperature, the concentration of drug, and excipients in the solution. Chemically, it is bis-(2-chloroethyl) methylamine. Being the first nitrogen mustard; for therapeutic use, it still suffers from the limitations of poor aqueous solubility and limited oral bioavailability. Reepmeyer (2005) investigated the amount of mechlorethamine in topical formulation by HPLC (Reepmeyer 2005). To date, nanotechnology-based delivery system is reported for mechlorethamine and its delivery.