Doxorubicin is a cytotoxic anthracycline antibiotic isolated from cultures of Streptomyces peucetius var. caesius along side with daunorubicin, another cytotoxic agent, in 1970. Although they both have aglyconic and sugar moieties, doxorubicin's side chain terminates with a primary alcohol group compared to the methyl group of daunorubicin. Although its detailed molecular mechanisms have yet to be understood, doxorubicin is generally thought to exert its effect through DNA intercalation, which eventually leads to DNA damage and the generation of reactive oxygen species. Thanks to its efficacy and broad effect, doxorubicin was approved by the FDA in 1974 to treat a variety of cancer, including but not limited to breast, lung, gastric, ovarian, thyroid, non-Hodgkin’s and Hodgkin’s lymphoma, multiple myeloma, sarcoma, and pediatric cancers. However, one of the major side effects of doxorubicin is cardiotoxicity, which excludes patients with poor heart function and requires treatment termination once the maximally tolerated cumulative dose is reached.
Doxorubicin is indicated for the treatment of neoplastic conditions like acute lymphoblastic leukemia, acute myeloblastic leukemia, Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin lymphoma, metastatic breast cancer, metastatic Wilms’ tumor, metastatic neuroblastoma, metastatic soft tissue and bone sarcomas, metastatic ovarian carcinoma, metastatic transitional cell bladder carcinoma, metastatic thyroid carcinoma, metastatic gastric carcinoma, and metastatic bronchogenic carcinoma. Doxorubicin is also indicated for use as a component of adjuvant therapy in women with evidence of axillary lymph node involvement following resection of primary breast cancer. For the liposomal formulation, doxorubicin is indicated for the treatment of ovarian cancer that has progressed or recurred after platinum-based chemotherapy, AIDS-Related Kaposi's Sarcoma after the failure of prior systemic chemotherapy or intolerance to such therapy, and multiple myeloma in combination with bortezomib in patients who have not previously received bortezomib and have received at least one prior therapy.
Union Hospital,Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China
MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, United States
Local Institution - 501, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
Uniwersyteckie Centrum Kliniczne, Gdansk, Poland
Centre Georges François Leclerc, Dijon, France
Institut Paoli Calmette, Marseille, France
Institut Curie, Paris, France
Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust, Oxford, United Kingdom
MUSC, Charleston, South Carolina, United States
Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, Columbus, Ohio, United States
National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, Bethesda, Maryland, United States
The First People's Hospital of Changzhou, Changzhou, Jiangsu, China
Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China
The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China
Morphsys Research Site, Taoyuan, Taiwan
MorphoSys Research Site, Wolverhampton, United Kingdom
Morphosys research site, UFA, Russian Federation
Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, Columbus, Ohio, United States
Memorial Hospital East, Shiloh, Illinois, United States
University of Pennsylvania/Abramson Cancer Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Tufts Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Banner University Medical Center - Tucson, Tucson, Arizona, United States
Kaiser Permanente-Anaheim, Anaheim, California, United States
Stay informed with timely notifications on clinical trials, regulatory changes, and research advancements related to this medication.