Smart chemistry rids anti-cancer drugs of serious side effects

Researchers of the Leiden University Medical Centre (LUMC) and the Leiden Institute of Chemistry have made an important discovery about the commonly used anti-cancer drug doxorubicin. They have found a way to reduce its side ...

Carriers deliver controllable cancer chemotherapy

Cancer kills more than half a million men, women, and children each year in the U.S, and chemotherapy is only slightly more discriminating than the disease it treats. As a result, many cancer treatments kill cells throughout ...

Nano-dwarves turn tumor assassins

Hair loss, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, loss of appetite, loss of eye lashes and eye brows, susceptibility to infection – the list of possible side effects from chemotherapy is lengthy. Many cancer patients suffer from the ...

Carbon nanotubes: Bullets in the fight against cancer

Carbon nanotubes, tiny tubes of rolled-up carbon sheets, hold great potential for delivering therapeutic heat, drugs and medical sensors directly to where they are needed to attack cancerous cells.

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Doxorubicin

Doxorubicin INN ( /ˌdɒksəˈruːbəsɪn/; trade name Adriamycin; also known as hydroxydaunorubicin) is a drug used in cancer chemotherapy. It is an anthracycline antibiotic, closely related to the natural product daunomycin, and like all anthracyclines, it works by intercalating DNA.

Doxorubicin is commonly used in the treatment of a wide range of cancers, including hematological malignancies, many types of carcinoma, and soft tissue sarcomas.

Doxorubicin's most serious adverse effect is life-threatening heart damage.

The drug is administered intravenously, in the form of hydrochloride salt. It may be sold under the brand names Adriamycin PFS, Adriamycin RDF, or Rubex. Doxorubicin is photosensitive, and containers are often covered by an aluminum bag and/or brown wax paper to prevent light from affecting it.

The molecule was originally isolated in the 1950s from bacteria found in soil samples taken from Castel del Monte, an Italian castle.

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