Mitomycin C
Wikipedia
Mitomycin C is a mitomycin that is used as a chemotherapeutic agent by virtue of its antitumour activity.
It is given intravenously to treat upper gastro-intestinal cancers (e.g. esophageal carcinoma), anal cancers, and breast cancers, as well as by bladder instillation for superficial bladder tumours.
Mitomycin C has also been used topically rather than intravenously in several areas. The first is cancers, particularly bladder cancers and intraperitoneal tumours. It is now well known that a single instillation of this agent within 6 hours of bladder tumor resection can prevent recurrence. The second is in eye surgery where mitomycin C 0.02% is applied topically to prevent scarring during glaucoma filtering surgery and to prevent haze after PRK or LASIK; mitomycin C has also been shown to reduce fibrosis in strabismus surgery. The third is in esophageal and tracheal stenosis where application of mitomycin C onto the mucosa immediately following dilatation will decrease re-stenosis by decreasing the production of fibroblasts and scar tissue.
In April 2020, mitomycin gel, sold under the brand name Jelmyto, was approved in the United States for the treatment of low-grade upper tract urothelial cancer (UTUC). Urothelial cancer is a cancer of the lining of the urinary system.
Mitomycin is also used as a chemotherapeutic agent in glaucoma surgery.
Contraindications
Pregnant women should not take mitomycin gel because it may cause harm to a developing fetus or newborn baby.
Side effects
It causes delayed bone marrow toxicity and therefore it is usually administered at 6-weekly intervals. Prolonged use may result in permanent bone-marrow damage. It may also cause lung fibrosis and renal damage.
Anticancer treatments with chemotherapeutic agents often impair brain cell function leading to memory loss and cognitive dysfunction. In order to understand the basis of these impairments, mice were treated with mitomycin C, a chemotherapeutic agent, and cells of the prefrontal cortex were examined. This treatment resulted in an increase of the oxidative DNA damage 8-oxo-dG, a decrease in the enzyme OGG1 that ordinarily repairs such damage and epigenetic alterations. These alterations at the DNA level may explain, at least in part, the impairments of cognitive function after chemotherapy.
Common side effects are ureteric obstruction (narrowing or blockage of the ureter that may lead to excess fluid in the kidney due to a backup of urine), flank pain (pain occurring on the side of the body), urinary tract infection, hematuria (blood in the urine), renal dysfunction (inability of the kidney to function in its designed capacity), fatigue, nausea, abdominal pain, dysuria (painful or difficult urination) and vomiting.
Ginsenosides synergize with mitomycin C in combating human non-small cell lung cancer.