La. Herrera et al., EVALUATION OF THE CARCINOGENIC AND GENOTOXIC POTENTIAL OF PRAZIQUANTEL IN THE SYRIAN-HAMSTER EMBRYO CELL-TRANSFORMATION ASSAY, MUTATION RESEARCH, 305(2), 1994, pp. 175-180
Praziquentel, a drug used for the treatment of neurocysticercosis, was
tested for its ability to induce morphological transformation of Syri
an hamster embryo fibroblasts. Results indicate that praziquantel tran
sforms these cells without affecting their viability. Further experime
nts were carried out to investigate its possible mechanism of action i
n the same cell system. Micronucleus formation was observed in culture
s treated with concentrations with induced morphological transformatio
n, about 40% of these micronuclei were positive to a kinetochore antib
ody. No induction of DNA repair synthesis was observed even at cytotox
ic concentrations. These results suggest that praziquantel has an aneu
genic effect which could be responsible for its ability to transform m
orphologically these cells. Risk-benefit analysis should be carried ou
t whenever this drug is utilized.