Cancer chemotherapy and pharmacology
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Cancer Chemother. Pharmacol. · Jan 1992
Antitumor activity of treosulfan against human breast carcinomas.
Treosulfan (L-threitol-1,4-bismethanesulfonate, Ovastat) is a bifunctional alkylating agent that shows a formal structural similarity to busulfan and is applied clinically to patients suffering from ovarian cancer. The present study demonstrated the pronounced antitumor activity of this drug against three of five human breast carcinomas xenografted to athymic mice. It was shown that treosulfan is capable of inducing irreversible and complete remission of the heterotransplanted human breast carcinomas MDA-MB-436 and MX-1 within 14 days after drug application and of effecting growth inhibition by more than 90% in the MDA-MB-435S xenograft. ⋯ The FM 2 breast carcinoma, finally, was the only xenograft whose growth was not influenced by treosulfan at doses up to that which was lethal to 50% of the treated mice (LD50 value). These results confirm that treosulfan is effective against human breast carcinomas. Because of this activity as well as the known low toxicity and good clinical compatibility of treosulfan, it should be considered for introduction into nonendocrine chemotherapeutic regimens against human breast carcinomas and investigation in clinical trials.