Occurrence of anticancer drugs in the aquatic environment: a systematic review

Abstract

Water contamination with pharmaceutical products is a well-studied problem. Numerous studies have demonstrated the presence of anticancer drugs in different water resources that failed to be eliminated by conventional wastewater treatment plants. The purpose of this report was to conduct a systematic review of anticancer drugs in the aquatic environment. The methodology adopted was carried out in compliance with the PRISMA guidelines. From the 75 studies that met the specific requirements for inclusion, data extracted showed that the most common anticancer drugs studied are cyclophosphamide, tamoxifen, ifosfamide and methotrexate with concentrations measured ranging between 0.01 and 86,200 ng/L. There was significant variation in the methodologies employed due to lack of available guidelines to address sampling techniques, seasonal variability and analytical strategy. The most routinely used technique for quantitative determination was found to be solid-phase extraction followed by LC-MS analysis. The lowest reported recovery percentage was 11%, and the highest limit of detection was 1700 ng/L. This indicated the inadequacy of some methods to analyse anticancer drugs and the failure to obtain reliable results. The significant heterogeneity within methodologies made it difficult to compare results and draw conclusions, nevertheless, this study aids in the extrapolation of proposed recommendations to guide future studies and reviews.

Graphene Quantum Dots and Cu(I) Liquid Crystal for Advanced Electrochemical Detection of Doxorubicine in Aqueous Solutions

“…In the last few decades, pharmaceuticals have been saving millions of lives and have emerged as a new class of environmental contaminant [1][2][3][4]. Since 1990, major efforts have been made to study the risks, occurrence, and fate of human pharmaceuticals (identified as pseudo-persistent compounds) which are constantly released in the environment [1,4].…”

“…Chemotherapy drugs are a specific group of pharmaceutical compounds used to treat cancer diseases. They are often called anticancer drugs and have been shown to have potent cytotoxic, genotoxic, mutagenic, carcinogenic, endocrine disruptor, and/or teratogenic effects in several organisms, since they have been mainly designed to disrupt or prevent cellular proliferation, usually by interfering in DNA synthesis [1][2][3][4][5][6].…”

Effects of Ferrocenyl 4-(Imino)-1,4-Dihydro-quinolines on Xenopus laevis Prophase I - Arrested Oocytes: Survival and Hormonal-Induced M-Phase Entry

“…In addition, compounds 6 and 7 affect the resumption of oocyte meiosis triggered by progesterone. It was previously reported that apoptosis occurred in progesterone-treated oocyte 48 h after the completion of maturation [39,40]. Two apoptosis markers, the cleaved caspase 3 [44,45] and the Ser14 phosphorylated histone H2B [44][45][46][47] were detected in prophase I oocytes exposed to compound 7 and in oocytes treated by progesterone and compounds 6 or 7 showing an apoptosis death.…”

“…The increasing use of pharmaceuticals results in increased discharges and aquatic contamination [35], for example in Brazil doses up to 123.5 µg/L were measured [39], but higher concentrations all over the world were also reported (see [40] for a review). Xenopus oocytes (M-Phase entry and meiotic maturation from prophase I to metaphase II) offer a unique physiological aquatic model to assess the effects of novel synthesized products on cell cycle.…”

Graphene-Based Composites as Catalysts for the Degradation of Pharmaceuticals

“…Since conventional water and wastewater treatment processes (WWTP) are incapable of completely removing pharmaceuticals, it is therefore important for advanced treatment techniques to be incorporated into WWTPs. Some of the advanced processes that have -27-212 ng/L Surface water/UK [33] Cardiovascular Metoprolol Since conventional water and wastewater treatment processes (WWTP) are incapable of completely removing pharmaceuticals, it is therefore important for advanced treatment techniques to be incorporated into WWTPs. Some of the advanced processes that have 43.0-47.4 mg/L; Ceriodaphnia dubia 20-116 ng/L Surface water/Hungry [34] Antidiabetics Metformin Since conventional water and wastewater treatment processes (WWTP) are incapable of completely removing pharmaceuticals, it is therefore important for advanced treatment techniques to be incorporated into WWTPs.…”