Alkylating Agents - Alkylating Antineoplastic Agent (Paperback)

Chapters: Alkylating Antineoplastic Agent. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 68. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: An alkylating antineoplastic agent is an alkylating agent used in cancer treatment that attaches an alkyl group (CnH2n+1) to DNA. The alkyl group is attached to the guanine base of DNA, at the number 7 nitrogen atom of the imidazole ring. Since cancer cells, in general, proliferate faster and with less error-correcting than healthy cells, cancer cells are more sensitive to DNA damage such as being alkylated. Alkylating agents are used to treat several cancers. However, they are also toxic to normal cells (cytotoxic), leading to damage, in particular in cells that divide frequently, as those in the gastrointestinal tract, bone marrow, and ovaries, which can cause loss of fertility. Alkylating agents are also carcinogenic. Hyperthermia is especially effective at enhancing the effects of alkylating agents. Before their use in chemotherapy, alkylating agents were better known for the use of sulfur mustard ("mustard gas") and related chemical weapons in World War I. In general, these were not used in World War II, but, in a lone exception, the United States Liberty Ship John Harvey carried a cache of the weapons that were released during the Air Raid on Bari in 1943, causing casualties to hundreds of sailors and Italian civilians. Medical tests of affected personnel revealed a profound bone marrow and lymphoid aplasia. Nitrogen mustard was subsequently recommended for testing in humans by Goodman and Gilman at Yale. Because of secrecy surrounding the war gas program, the results were not published until 1946, but revealed a striking but temporary dissolution of tumor masses. Even so, it was not until 1963 that further studies of the drug began to impact patients. Some alkyla...More: http: //booksllc.net/?id=993719