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Effect of an anionic polyelectrolyte (polyethylene sulfonate) in patients with cancer Clinical pharmacology of a macromolecule
Author(s) -
Regelson William,
Holland James F.
Publication year - 1962
Publication title -
clinical pharmacology and therapeutics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.941
H-Index - 188
eISSN - 1532-6535
pISSN - 0009-9236
DOI - 10.1002/cpt196236730
Subject(s) - medicine , vomiting , nausea , toxicity , pharmacology , anesthesia , drug , gastroenterology
Polyethylene sulfonate, an anionic polymer of average molecular weight (13,000) with anticoagulant and lipolytic activity, was given by intramuscular and intravenous routes to 49 patients with cancer. Three patients of 35 who received an adequate trial of drug showed objective tumor regression, but clinical improvement was seen in only 1. Acute toxicity produced by polyethylene sulfonate after intravenous injection was characterized by hypotension, pain, abdominal cramping, diarrhea, cyanosis, paresthesia, convulsive seizures, confusion, and amnesia. Chronic toxicity occurred after both intramuscular and intravenous injection and was characterized by diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, thrombocytopenia, and elevation of acid phosphatase. Thrombocytopenia was seen in all patients who were studied adequately and was not associated with changes in other marrow elements. Factor V, the labile prothrombin accelerator, was reduced by drug administration. Polyethylene sulfonate proved to have minimal tumor‐inhibiting activity, and its use was limited by serious toxicity. Further clinical studies of its action as a tumor inhibitor in man are not warranted.