Radiotherapy and chemotherapy are the basic approaches in cancer treatment, but these procedures are often associated with a number of undesirable side effects worsening the quality of life of the patient. In recent years a number of protective compounds capable of reducing or eliminating these side effects have been extensively investigated (for example: dexrazoxan, mesna, glutathion or N-acetylcystein). One of these compounds is amifostine (WR-2721), a broad-spectrum cytoprotective drug, selectively protecting normal tissues from the toxic effects of therapy, while the malignant tissues are subject to the anti-tumour effects of the treatment. In addition, several studies have revealed certain antimutagenic activities of amifostine making this agent potentially useful in the prevention of therapy-induced secondary malignancies. This article summarizes the information available on the antimutagenic and cytoprotective effects of amifostine and its effects also on the activity of the p53 tumour suppressor.
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Grochová et al. (2007) studied this question.
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