Toxicology letters
-
Based on a production accident Viracept (nelfinavir mesilate) tablets, an HIV protease inhibitor supplied by Roche outside the US, Canada and Japan was contaminated with relatively high levels of ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS) for at most 3 months in spring of 2007. On the basis of a wide variety of toxicological data including critical experiments for mutation induction under chronic exposure conditions and cross-species exposure scaling experiments to extrapolate to humans, we estimate the added risk of adverse effects (cancer, birth abnormalities, heritable defects) in any individual patient accidentally exposed to EMS via contaminated Viracept tablets in the context of this production accident as essentially zero. Of critical important for this risk assessment are pivotal in vivo genotoxicity studies (MNT, MutaMouse) providing evidence for 'hockey-stick', like dose-response relationships for the risk defining induction of gene mutations and chromosomal damage by EMS [Gocke, E., Müller, L., Pfister, T., Buergin, H., 2009a. ⋯ Potential adverse effects of EMS such as cancer, birth abnormalities and heritable effects are considered to be sequelae of its genotoxic activity. Hence, the thresholded dose-response relationships should also apply to these endpoints. We also provide a comprehensive discussion of the specific disease situation of the HIV infected target population and potential influences of co-medications on the susceptibilities and repair capacities of EMS induced DNA lesions.
-
In this subacute toxicity study, ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS) was administered daily by oral gavage to SPF-bred Wistar rats of both sexes at dose levels of 20, 60 and 180/120 mg/kg body weight (bw)/day for a period of 28 days (for 19 days in the high-dose group). A control group was treated similarly with the vehicle, bidistilled water, only. The groups comprised 10 animals per sex, which were sacrificed after 28 days, respectively 19 days in the high-dose group, of treatment. ⋯ Organ toxicity was characterized by depression of cell proliferation (hematopoiesis and spermatogenesis) and changes suggestive of reduced metabolism and/or physiological imbalances (e.g. thymolymphatic system and thyroid gland) without signs of inflammatory or necrotic lesions. For some findings, especially the effects on the thymolymphatic system and sexual organs, it cannot be excluded that starvation-like condition contributed to the occurrence of such changes. The low dose of 20 mg/kgbw/day was basically free of adverse effects despite of a clear evidence for hemoglobin adducts.