The Effect of Oxaliplatin Genotoxicity on Human Lymphocytes - Essay Example

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 section 7. This has been approved for the treatment of metastatic colon cancer in combination with 5-fluorouracil and folinic acid8.

Therefore, this is a diamino cyclohexane (DACH) platinum compound9. This was considered 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 the affected recovery of cancer cells11.

This has been attributed to the size of the DACH carrier ligands, resulting in a bulkier platinum-DNA adduct in comparison to that created by cisplatin12. The inhibitory effects of platinum compounds have been ascribed to the formation of inorganic platinum compounds in presence of ammonium and chloride ions. When the great clinical value of cisplatin, which is a diamine dichloro platinum compound, was recognized through the activity of these substances in the experimental tumor systems, many platinum compounds have been synthesized and tested. As reported by Ibrahim et al. (2004), oxaliplatin was approved by FDA for the treatment of colon cancer in 2003.