The clinical use of anthracyclines like doxorubicin and daunorubicin can be viewed as a sort of double-edged sword. On the one hand, anthracyclines play an undisputed key role in the treatment of many neoplastic diseases; on the other hand, chronic administration of anthracyclines induces cardiomyopathy and congestive heart failure usually refractory to common medications. Second-generation analogs like epirubicin or idarubicin exhibit improvements in their therapeutic index, but the risk of inducing cardiomyopathy is not abated. It is because of their janus behavior (activity in tumors vis-a-vis toxicity in cardiomyocytes) that anthracyclines continue to attract the interest of preclinical and clinical investigations despite their longer-than-40-year record of longevity. Here we review recent progresses that may serve as a framework for reappraising the activity and toxicity of anthracyclines on basic and clinical pharmacology grounds. We review 1) new aspects of anthracycline-induced DNA damage in cancer cells; 2) the role of iron and free radicals as causative factors of apoptosis or other forms of cardiac damage; 3) molecular mechanisms of cardiotoxic synergism between anthracyclines and other anticancer agents; 4) the pharmacologic rationale and clinical recommendations for using cardioprotectants while not interfering with tumor response; 5) the development of tumor-targeted anthracycline formulations; and 6) the designing of third-generation analogs and their assessment in preclinical or clinical settings. An overview of these issues confirms that anthracyclines remain "evergreen" drugs with broad clinical indications but have still an improvable therapeutic index.

/pdf/anthracyclines-molecular-advances-and-pharmacologic-4vygbx1i0b.pdf

Anthracyclines: Molecular Advances and Pharmacologic Developments in Antitumor Activity and Cardiotoxicity

A critical evaluation of the mechanisms of action proposed for the antitumor effects of the anthracycline antibiotics adriamycin and daunorubicin

Anti-cancer drugs

The anthracyclines: will we ever find a better doxorubicin?

PURPOSETo determine the cardioprotective effect of dexrazoxane (DZR) used in a doxorubicin-based combination therapy in advanced breast cancer.PATIENTS AND METHODSBetween November 1988 and January 1991, 534 patients with advanced breast cancer were randomized to two multicenter, double-blind studies (088001 and 088006). Patients received fluorouracil, doxorubicin, and cyclophosphamide (FAC) with either DZR (DZR-to-doxorubicin ratio, 10:1) or placebo (PLA) every 3 weeks and were monitored with serial multiplegated acquisition (MUGA) scans.RESULTSThe hazards ratio (HR) of PLA to DZR for a cardiac event, which was predefined ejection fraction changes or congestive heart failure (CHF), was 2.63 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.61 to 4.27; P < .001) for 088001 and 2.00 (95% CI, 1.01 to 3.96; P = .038) for 088006. The objective response rates for 088001 were 46.8% for DZR and 60.5% for PLA, a difference of 14% (95% CI, -25% to -2%; P = .019), and for 088006 were 53.7% for DZR and 49.3% for PLA, a difference of ...

Cardioprotection with dexrazoxane for doxorubicin-containing therapy in advanced breast cancer.

OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the long-term effects on swallowing function of concomitant continuous infusion hydroxyurea and hyperfractionated radiation therapy used to treat advanced head and neck carcinoma.


DESIGN
A prospective evaluation of swallowing function was performed on an inception cohort by analyzing posttreatment videoflouroscopic swallow function studies using radiological descriptors for pharyngeal transport abnormalities and temporal measures of structural movements, as well as by conducting patient interviews to assess alimentation, more than 1 year after tumor treatment (range, 52-124 weeks; median, 70 weeks).


SETTING
Academic tertiary care referral medical center.


PATIENTS
Ten patients, aged 44 to 71 years, with stage III and IV squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity, oropharynx, or hypopharynx.


MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE
Radiographic and temporal swallow abnormalities, as well as functional status, were documented and compared with published norms and results of earlier swallowing studies when possible.


RESULTS
Pharyngeal transport dysfunction and anterior segment abnormalities, manifested by epiglottic dysmotility, vallecular residue, laryngeal penetration, or aspiration, were evident in all 10 patients. Posterior segment abnormalities, such as pharyngeal stasis, constrictor dysmotility and piriform residue were documented in 8 patients. Three patients developed late aspiration, and the majority of patients showed persistent or worsened delay in laryngeal movement compared with their earlier posttreatment evaluations. Also, 3 patients developed a hypopharyngeal stricture, and 6 patients continued to require gastrostomy tube supplementation beyond 1 year. There was no association between site of primary, duration to swallowing evaluation, and severity of dysfunction.


CONCLUSION
Prolonged and debilitating functional swallowing abnormalities may occur after this aggressive concomitant chemotherapy and radiotherapy regimen.

Long-term Swallowing Problems After Organ Preservation Therapy With Concomitant Radiation Therapy and Intravenous Hydroxyurea

BACKGROUND Although doxorubicin is an anticancer agent with a wide spectrum of activity, therapy with this anthracycline must often be discontinued at a time of benefit to the patient because of the drug's cumulative cardiotoxicity. ICRF-187 (ADR-529, dexrazoxane) is a bisdioxopiperazine compound that protects against cardiac toxicity induced by doxorubicin. PURPOSE Our objectives in this study were to determine the maximum tolerated dose of ADR-529 (which uses a different vehicle than ICRF-187) when given with a fixed doxorubicin dose and to determine whether ADR-529 alters doxorubicin pharmacokinetics. METHODS Twenty-five patients were treated with doxorubicin (60 mg/m2) preceded by administration of ADR-529 in escalating dosages (i.e., 60, 300, 600, 750, and 900 mg/m2) to groups of three to nine patients. ADR-529 was administered over a 15-minute period beginning 30 minutes before doxorubicin treatment; the protocol was repeated every 3 weeks. Blood was sampled frequently for drug levels, which were determined by high-pressure liquid chromatography with fluorescence (doxorubicin) and electrochemical detection (ADR-529). RESULTS Dose-limiting neutropenia occurred in four of six previously treated patients at an ADR-529 dose of 600 mg/m2; the dose ratio of ADR-529 to doxorubicin was 10:1. For three additional patients with better Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status and a maximum of one prior chemotherapy regimen, 600 mg/m2 was tolerated, but grade 3 or 4 neutropenia occurred in four of six patients who received an ADR-529 dose of 900 mg/m2 and in three of four patients at a dose of 750 mg/m2. Doxorubicin's estimated terminal half-life was 39.5 +/- 18.3 (mean +/- SD) hours; the area under the curve for plasma concentration of drug x time (AUC) was 1.74 +/- 0.40 (micrograms/microL) x hour. Total-body clearance was 598 +/- 142 microL/m2 per minute (N = 20), and it did not vary with ADR-529 dose. Estimated distribution and elimination phase half-lives for plasma ADR-529 were 0.46 +/- 0.30 hours and 4.16 +/- 2.94 hours, respectively. Total-body clearance was 111 +/- 87 microL/m2 per minute (N = 18); AUC was linear (r2 = .92), and the clearance rate was constant (r2 = .18) from 60 to 900 mg/m2. CONCLUSIONS Myelotoxicity was dose limiting for ADR-529 at 600-750 mg/m2 when given with a fixed dose of doxorubicin at 60 mg/m2 (dose ratios of ADR-529 to doxorubicin ranged from 10:1 to 12.5:1). When used in combination, ADR-529 did not perturb doxorubicin's distribution, metabolism, or excretion; therefore, other mechanisms of cardioprotection must be involved. IMPLICATIONS We recommend that an ADR-529 dose of 600 mg/m2 be given with single-agent doxorubicin at a dose of 60 mg/m2 in future studies.

Pharmacokinetics of the Cardioprotector ADR-529 (ICRF-187) in Escalating Doses Combined With Fixed-Dose Doxorubicin

Objective: The Montefiore Medical Center experience with women with gastrointestinal (GI) cancer was reviewed to: (1) evaluate clinical parameters in patients with Krukenberg tumor

Krukenberg tumors: can management be improved?

Adjuvant effects of lithium chloride on human mononuclear cells in suppressor-enriched and suppressor-depleted systems

PURPOSEDiarrhea is one of the dose-limiting toxicities for administration of fluorouracil (5FU) in patients with gastrointestinal malignancies and can result in severe morbidities or mortality. The somatostatin analog octreotide acetate has been used in the treatment of 5FU-induced diarrhea with promising results. A phase I trial was initiated to determine the maximum-tolerated dose of octreotide acetate that could be administered in this setting.PATIENTS AND METHODSPatients were required to have National Cancer Institute Common Toxicity Criteria > or = grade 2 diarrhea or watery diarrhea secondary to treatment with 5FU or a modulated 5FU regimen. At least three patients were treated at each dose level; after satisfactory completion of this dose level (zero of three or one of six patients with < or = grade 2 toxicity), additional patients were added at the next dose level. Doses of octreotide acetate studied were 50 to 2,500 micrograms subcutaneously three times daily for 5 days.RESULTSA total of 35 patie...

Scott Wadler

Papers

Long-term Swallowing Problems After Organ Preservation Therapy With Concomitant Radiation Therapy and Intravenous Hydroxyurea

Pharmacokinetics of the Cardioprotector ADR-529 (ICRF-187) in Escalating Doses Combined With Fixed-Dose Doxorubicin

Krukenberg tumors: can management be improved?

Adjuvant effects of lithium chloride on human mononuclear cells in suppressor-enriched and suppressor-depleted systems

Phase I trial of the somatostatin analog octreotide acetate in the treatment of fluoropyrimidine-induced diarrhea.