Action of Anticancer Drugs on the Cell Cycle. Chromosome Damage and Differential Stage Sensitivity

Abstract

In spite of the fact that the relative sensitivities of different phases of the cell cycle to the cytotoxic effects a large number of anticancer drugs is known¹ the mechanisms of differential stage sensitivity are, in general, poorly understood. A better understanding of these mechanisms should allow a more rational approach to the practical application of these drugs. As a cytogeneticist I am struck by the high proportion of anticancer drugs which produce chromosome structural damage; Table 1 gives a list of such drugs taken from a survey by Shaw² in 197O so it is by now certainly incomplete but is nevertheless an impressive list and includes many anticancer drugs in common use. I hope to show that at least for one class of drugs, the alkylating agents, chromosome aberration frequencies play an important part in determining differential stage sensitivity.