Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0019158 (hepatitis)
 30,205 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Hycanthone was given to 15 patients with metastatic cancer in order to determine the maximum tolerable dose. The drug was administered in 5-day courses at 3-week intervals. The starting dose was 30 mg/m2/day and the highest dose level reached was 90 mg/m2/day. The most common (13 patients) side effect was nausea and/or vomiting. The dose-limiting toxicity was toxic hepatitis manifested as elevation in serum transaminases in eight of 15 patients and an increase in serum bilirubin in three patients. Hepatotoxicity was dose-related and was observed in two of 25 courses given at the dose level of less than or equal to 70 mg/m2 compared to seven of nine courses given at the dose level of greater than or equal to 80 mg/m2. Because of an unacceptable incidence of hepatotoxicity at higher doses, 70 mg/m2/day x 5 appears to be a safe dose for phase II studies.
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PMID:Phase I study of hycanthone. 35 76

Hycanthone is an antischistosomal drug with promising antitumor activity against experimental animal tumors. In phase I clinical trials, hepatitis weas the dose-limiting toxic effect and a dose of 60-70 mg/m2/day for 5 days was reported as the maximum-tolerated dose. In a phase II study of hycanthone in patients with breast cancer we have recently observed severe hepatotoxicity, even at lower doses, which resulted in two drug-related deaths. From this study and the previously available data, we conclude that this drug is too toxic for human trials at the currently recommended doses. Its radiosensitizing effect may be worth exploring at a lower dose level.
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PMID:Hepatotoxicity of hycanthone in patients with metastatic breast cancer. 744 30