Leukemia from dermal exposure to cyclophosphamide among nurses in the Netherlands: Quantitative assessment of the risk

Several studies showed that oncology nurses are exposed to antineoplastic drugs via the skin during daily activities. Several antineoplastic drugs (including cyclophosphamide) have been classified as carcinogenic to humans. This study aims to assess the leukemia risk of occupational exposure to cyclophosphamide. Average task frequencies from the...

Nurses with dermal exposure to antineoplastic drugs: Reproductive outcomes

BACKGROUND: Nurses and other hospital workers are exposed to antineoplastic drugs during daily activities. Previous studies suggest that antineoplastic drugs at occupational exposure levels may be toxic to reproduction, but these studies are not consistent or conclusive. METHODS: Self-administered questionnaires were completed by 4393 exposed...

Effects of cyclosporin A and cyclophosphamide on Peyer's patches in rat, exposed in utero and neonatally or during adult age

The effects of cyclosporin A (CY) and cyclophosphamide (CPS) on Peyer's patches (PP) were studied in Wistar rats, exposed in utero and neonatally or during adult age. In one study, pregnant dams received 5 or 15 mg/kg bw/day CY from gestation day 6 to day 21 of lactation. In two other studies, animals were exposed at young adult age: female rats...

A probabilistic assessment of the impact of interventions on oncology nurses' exposure to antineoplastic agents

Objective: The main goal was to investigate the potential of a probabilistic approach for exposure assessment and use this information to evaluate the impact of a complex of policy actions/interventions on dermal exposure to antineoplastic agents among oncology nurses. The central theme of this study was to make optimal use of existing data,...

Covalent binding of nitrogen mustards to the cysteine-34 residue in human serum albumin

Covalent binding of various clinically important nitrogen mustards to the cysteine-34 residue of human serum albumin, in vitro and in vivo, is demonstrated. A rapid method for detection of these adducts is presented, based on liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry analysis of the adducted tripeptide Cys*-Pro-Phe after digestion of the...

Postulating a dermal pathway for exposure to anti-neoplastic drugs among hospital workers. Applying a conceptual model to the results of three workplace surveys

Dermal exposure to anti-neoplastic drugs has been suggested as a potentially important route of exposure of hospital workers. Three small-scale workplace surveys were carried out in several hospitals focusing on contamination by leakage from IV infusion systems; contamination by spilled urine of patients treated with anti-neoplastic drugs and...

Involvement of human glutathione S-transferase isoenzymes in the conjugation of cyclophosphamide metabolites with glutathione

Alkylating agents can be detoxified by conjugation with glutathione (GSH). One of the physiological significances of this lies in the observation that cancer cells resistant to the cytotoxic effects of alkylating agents have higher levels of GSH and high glutathione S-transferase (GST) activity. However, little is known about the GSH-/GST...

Detection of single-strand breaks and base damage in DNA of blood cells from leukaemia patients receiving chemo- and radiotherapy

Chemotherapy combined with total-body irradiation (TBI), a conditioning regimen for bone-marrow transplantation (BMT), causes lesions in the cellular DNA of the patients treated. To understand possible consequences of the DNA damage induced during such treatment, information is required about the nature of the damage, the level of induction and...

Effect of cigarette-smoke condensate and norharman on the induction of SCEs by direct and indirect mutagens in CHO cells

Lung damage in the rat after irradiation and treatment with cytotoxic drugs

Interstitial pneumonitis (IP) is one of the major complications after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (incidence: 30 to 50%, fatality rate: 50 to 60%). Cytomegalovirus is associated with 60% of the cases. When no infectious agent can be detected, it is classified as idiopathic IP (IIP). Factors related to IIP are: remission induction...

Report of a workshop on bacterial in vitro mutagenicity test systems

Bacterial systems for the screening of chemical substances for mutagenic potential are receiving widespread attention. Now that many laboratories have introduced these test systems and a large number of substances has been tested, discrepancies in the results have become apparent. To discuss this problem, a workshop was organized at Neuherberg ...

Enhancement by drugs of metastatic lung nodule formation after intravenous tumour cell injection

In studies on a model of induced pulmonary metastasis in mice a tumour host system was analysed which was not affected by immunogenicity of the tumour for the host; neither intensive immunosuppression nor immunization caused a significant change in the quantity of pulmonary metastatic nodules. In contrast the application of cytostatic drugs and...

Factors determining cell killing by chemotherapeutic agents In Vivo-II: Melphalan, chlorambucil and nitrogen mustard

The sensitivity of resting spleen colony-forming cells in normal mouse bone marrow and of rapidly-proliferating spleen colony-forming cells in repopulating mouse spleen to a number of bis-chloro-aethyl-amines was determined. The rapidly-growing cells were more sensitive to each of the agents than the resting cells. The equal degree of...