Anti-cancer drugs
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High-dose chemotherapy of solid tumors aims at eliminating residual or metastatic tumor cells, which remained after conventional treatment. Thus, anticancer drugs used for high-dose chemotherapy should display significant cytotoxicity against the respective tumors. As little data are available about the in-vitro toxicity of busulfan and treosulfan especially on pediatric tumor cell lines, we compared the cytotoxicity of treosulfan and busulfan on four Ewing tumor, four neuroblastoma, two osteosarcoma and two leukemia cell lines in vitro. ⋯ The osteosarcoma cell lines were the most resistant cell lines. Although the in-vitro stability of both drugs makes direct comparison of their in-vitro toxicity difficult and does not allow any estimation of dosages needed clinically, the in-vitro results indicate substantial cytotoxicity of both drugs on leukemias, Ewing tumors and neuroblastomas. These data suggest further evaluation of treosulfan for high-dose chemotherapy of advanced Ewing tumors, neuroblastomas and high-risk leukemias.
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The aims of this study were to evaluate the feasibility of using the non-clonogenic fluorometric microculture cytotoxicity assay in drug sensitivity testing of tumor cells from patients with chronic myeloid leukemia. In nine samples (six chronic phase, three blast crisis), the drug sensitivities in tumor cells from blood versus from bone marrow and fresh tumor cells versus cryopreserved were compared. In 26 samples obtained in chronic phase (pretreatment), in six samples from patients in blast crisis and in the K 562 cell line, the activity of imatinib alone and in combination with cytarabine, vincristine, daunorubicin, interferon, arsenic trioxide and homoharringtonine was evaluated. ⋯ We conclude that the fluorometric microculture cytotoxicity assay may be a useful method for drug sensitivity testing in chronic myeloid leukemia patient samples from both chronic phase and blast crisis, and that testing primary tumor cells may have advantages over cell line studies. Imatinib shows a higher in vitro activity and more positive drug interactions in cells from blast crisis than chronic phase chronic myeloid leukemia patients. Combinations between imatinib and interferon, daunorubicin and arsenic trioxide may be interesting for future clinical trials in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia chronic phase.
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Comparative Study
Pharmacoeconomic aspects of adjuvant anastrozole or tamoxifen in breast cancer: a Slovenian perspective.
New treatment approaches that include the use of aromatase inhibitors in adjuvant breast cancer management are associated with higher efficacy and increased drug costs. Our aim was to calculate the difference in total costs of care associated with two therapeutic options, anastrozole and tamoxifen, from the perspective of a healthcare provider. The cost of care and a decision tree analysis were used in this assessment. ⋯ The total sum of all direct healthcare costs over a 60-month period was 14,438 and 8,009 Euros per person in the anastrozole and tamoxifen arm, respectively. Despite higher total costs of care associated with anastrozole, the drug cost ratio of anastrozole/tamoxifen=8.1/1 converted to a ratio of only 1.75/1 in favor of tamoxifen when costs of recurrence and adverse events were included. The total costs of care, including disease recurrences and adverse event management obtained in our analysis were similar to total costs of care values for other surveys, which lead us to believe that anastrozole is also a cost-effective alternative to tamoxifen in Slovenia.