Carcinogenicity of Some Anticancer Drugs—a Survey

Abstract

A list of 37 anticancer drugs with reported carcinogenicity or co‐carcinogenicity has been compiled. These drugs include 16 alkylating agents, eight antimetabolites, four antibiotics, four hormones, one alkaloid, and four miscellaneous drugs. The reported carcinogenicity of these drugs in model systems and their possible mechanisms of action are reviewed together with structure‐carcinogenicity relationships. These drugs have been reported to cause cancers in different sites in various test animals. Most of these drugs react with DNA, and the ultimate reactive forms of the drugs are electrophiles.

Bacillus Calmette?Guerin-refractory superficial bladder cancers: focus on pretreatment episodes

“…[14][15][16][17][18] Clinically, superficial bladder cancer is highly sensitive to BCG, [19][20][21][22] and it is generally well established that stimulation of the immune system exerts only beneficial effects on tumor development. In contrast, anticancer drugs may sometimes act as tumor-promoting agents, both in animal experiments 23 and in human cases, 24 at least partly as a result of immunological damage. Similar to open surgery, injury brings about local and general suppression of the immune system.…”