Oxaliplatin Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Oxaliplatin - Essay Example This was developed following discovery of cisplatin in an attempt to reduce the problematic side effects of cisplatin. This is administered intravenously, and till date, no commercially viable orally active agent has been reported to be accepted for therapy3,4. Like cisplatin, oxaliplatin is also associated with quite a few dose-limiting adverse effects, which include myelosuppression along with others5. These are neurotoxic side effects that include sensory peripheral neuropathy which can be dose limiting. The other side effects include gastrointestinal disturbances and ototoxicity, while renal function may be normally monitored during therapy6. In this assignment contemporary literature will be reviewed to address the effects of oxaliplatin genotoxicity on human lymphocytes by using various cytogenetic techniques. Oxaliplatin contains a cyclohexyl and a pentadilactone ring, which will be evident from its chemical structure in a later section7. This has been approved for treatment of metastatic colon cancer in combination with 5-fluorouracil and folinic acid8. Therefore, this is a diaminocyclohexane (DACH) platinum compound9. This was considered as a probable chemotherapeutic agent since it demonstrated preclinical activities in some cisplatin-resistant cell lines and xenografts10. Oxaliplatin is an important member of this DACH platinum group of compounds. Its preclinical activity against colorectal cancer has been studied in great detail. It has been suggested that oxaliplatin has a greater extent of cell kill in resistant cancers since therapy with this agent may result in greater resistance to repair mechanisms leading to affected recovery of cancer cells11. This has been attributed to the size of the DACH carrier ligands, resulting into a bulkier platinum-DNA adduct in comparison to that created by cisplatin12. The inhibitory effects of platinum compounds have been ascribed to formation of inorganic platinum compounds in presence