Pharmacology, Clinical Efficacy and Adverse Effects of Vindesine Sulfate, A New Vinca Alkaloid

Abstract

Vindesine is a new vinca alkaloid antineoplastic agent derived from vinblastine. However, its antineoplastic spectrum more closely resembles that of vincristine. Clinical studies indicate activity against acute leukemia, lung cancer, carcinoma of the breast, squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus and head and neck, Hodgkin's disease and non-Hodgkin's lymphomas. Pharmacokinetic studies indicate that vindesine exhibits a triphasic elimination pattern with a terminal half-life of 24.2 hours. Elimination is primarily through hepatic metabolism. The major side effects associated with vindesine therapy are myelosuppression and neurotoxicity. Other side effects include alopecia, nausea and vomiting and local tissue irritation associated with extravasation. Vindesine will be a positive addition to the antineoplastic armamentarium. The full extent of its activity remains to be established.

Natural Products as Cytotoxic Agents

“…Its toxicities include myelosuppression and neurotoxicity. Despite these promising findings, it has yet to be introduced to the clinic [359].…”

An overview on anti-tubulin agents for the treatment of lymphoma patients

“…Since 1970's, remarkable efforts have been made by chemists to synthesize semi-synthetic derivatives of vinblastine and vincristine by modifying the vindoline portion of the bis-indolic structure. This region bears reactive centers accessible by simple reactions and its modifications led to the synthesis of the first semisynthetic vinca alkaloid derivative used in clinical oncology: vindesine (Bayssas, et al, 1980;Cersosimo, Bromer, Licciardello, & Hong, 1983). Vindesine is a desacetyl derivative of vinblastine, registered in Europe in 1980 and available only for investigational purposes in the United States.…”

Therapeutic opportunities for PLK1 inhibitors: Spotlight on BRCA1-deficiency and triple negative breast cancers

“…Several cell-cycle blocking agents have been clinically evaluated and approved for the treatment of different type of cancers (Table 1). Moreover, a common limitation of such agents is that they do not distinguish malignant cells from normal cells, and therefore patients often experience adverse effects, such as peripheral neuropathy, myelosuppression, neurotoxicity, nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, constipation, anemia, neutropenia, fatigue [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]. Thus, a current challenge in this area is to develop therapies to target cell-cycle features that are distinctive to tumor cells.…”