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A Circadian Variation of Melphalan (L‐Phenylalanine Nitrogen Mustard) Toxicity to Murine Bone Marrow: Relevance to Cancer Treatment Protocols
Author(s) -
Simpson H. W.,
Stoney P. J.
Publication year - 1977
Publication title -
british journal of haematology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.907
H-Index - 186
eISSN - 1365-2141
pISSN - 0007-1048
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2141.1977.tb00607.x
Subject(s) - melphalan , medicine , bone marrow , toxicity , chemotherapy , oncology , breast cancer , circadian rhythm , nitrogen mustard , cancer , cyclophosphamide
The toxicity of Melphalan to murine bone marrow was assessed by automated Coulter counts of femoral marrow nucleated cells. A significant dose‐response slope ( P 0.001) was shown and also a significant variation along the 24 h scale. With food available ad libitum and light from 06.00 to 18.00 hours, the minimum marrow depression occurred around 16.00 hours. Extrapolating these findings to human chemotherapy it would appear that prescription of the drug during the early part of the activity span (usually breakfast) will minimize marrow depression. This differs from a human study in which Melphalan was given at ‘bedtime’as an adjuvant to mastectomy in breast carcinoma and in which there was leucopenia at some stage of treatment in all 103 patients. It is recommended that in future cancer therapy protocols test for circadian variability of white cell depression by varying treatment times systematically along the 24 h scale.