indication

Intended for use as a radiation sensitizer in the treatment of brain cancer.

pharmacology

Although lucanthone has structural and biochemical similarities to Actinomycin D, it has no hematological or gastro-intestinal toxicity at clinically tolerated doses. In trials, Lucanthone was found to be safe, practical and effective and was proposed for use in clinical protocols for the treatment of cancer. The specificity of lucanthone in combination with radiation for the treatment of brain tumors arises from the fact that lucanthone acts preferentially on cycling cells (most of the normal brain cells are non-cycling) and the fact that lucanthone crosses the blood brain barrier efficiently.

mechanism of action

Recent data suggests that lucanthone inhibits post-radiation DNA repair in tumor cells. The ability of lucanthone to inhibit AP endonuclease and topoisomerase II probably account for the specific DNA repair inhibition in irradiated cells.

absorption

Orally available