Ag. Bosanquet et Ar. Burlton, AIRBORNE CYTOTOXICITY IN THE DISC ASSAY CAUSED BY SOLUTIONS OF TREOSULFAN BUT NOT BUSULFAN, Cytotechnology, 16(2), 1994, pp. 131-136
Treosulfan and busulphan are similar molecules, the former used in the
treatment of ovarian cancer and the latter in chronic myelogenous leu
kaemia. We have used both in the differential staining cytotoxicity (D
iSC) assay for in vitro drug sensitivity testing to aid in the choice
of chemotherapy for individual patients. It was observed that occasion
ally the viability of control cells in one assay box was reduced compa
red with control cells in other boxes from the same assay. Treosulfan
was suspected as the cause because cells throughout the microtitre box
containing treosulfan had reduced viability in 28/62 (45%) experiment
s and in 9 of these, total kill of all cells in the box was observed.
We tested the hypothesis that a metabolite of treosulfan might be the
cause of this airborne cytotoxicity, and found that whilst 10 mg ml(-1
) of either methane sulphonic acid or tetrahydrofuran had no airborne
cytotoxic effect, 1 mg ml(-1) diepoxybutane killed over 95% of cells i
n all tubes in the same box. Treosulfan is another chemical (cf. azide
, mafosfamide and possibly other cytotoxic agents) that can cause airb
orne cytotoxicity.