chlorambucil: profile and news

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Other information

Indication
For treatment of chronic lymphatic (lymphocytic) leukemia, malignant lymphomas including lymphosarcoma, giant follicular lymphoma, and Hodgkin's disease

Pharmacology
Chlorambucil is an antineoplastic in the class of alkylating agents and is used to treat various forms of cancer. Alkylating agents are so named because of their ability to add alkyl groups to many electronegative groups under conditions present in cells. They stop tumor growth by cross-linking guanine bases in DNA double-helix strands - directly attacking DNA. This makes the strands unable to uncoil and separate. As this is necessary in DNA replication, the cells can no longer divide. In addition, these drugs add methyl or other alkyl groups onto molecules where they do not belong which in turn inhibits their correct utilization by base pairing and causes a miscoding of DNA. Alkylating agents are cell cycle-nonspecific. Alkylating agents work by three different mechanisms all of which achieve the same end result - disruption of DNA function and cell death.

Mechanism Of Action
Alkylating agents work by three different mechanisms: 1) attachment of alkyl groups to DNA bases, resulting in the DNA being fragmented by repair enzymes in their attempts to replace the alkylated bases, preventing DNA synthesis and RNA transcription from the affected DNA, 2) DNA damage via the formation of cross-links (bonds between atoms in the DNA) which prevents DNA from being separated for synthesis or transcription, and 3) the induction of mispairing of the nucleotides leading to mutations.

Drug Category
Antineoplastic Agents; ATC:L01AA02

Brand Names/Synonyms
Ambochlorin; Amboclorin; CB 1348; Cb L348; Chlocambucil; Chlorambucil; Chloraminophen; Chloraminophene; Chlorbutin; Chlorbutine; Chloroambucil; Chlorobutin; Chlorobutine; Ecloril; Elcoril; Leukeran; Leukeran Tablets; Leukersan; Leukoran; Linfolizin; Linfolysin; NSC 3088; Pepstatin; Phenylbuttersaeure-Lost; Phenylbutyric Acid Nitrogen Mustard; Rcra Waste Number U035

Dosage Forms
TABLET

Absorption
Not Available

Interactions
Interactions for Chlorambucil:

There are no known drug/drug interactions with chlorambucil.

Chemical IUPAC Name
4-[4-[bis(2-chloroethyl)amino]phenyl]butanoicacid

Chemical Formula
C14H19Cl2NO2

Half Life
1.5 hours

Drug Type
Approved Drug

# Accession No
APRD00115

CAS Registry Number
305-03-3