Drugs toxic to the bone marrow that target the stromal cells

Drugs that cause toxicity to the bone marrow are a heterogeneous group of c ompounds that act by various mechanisms. The etiology of this pathology is poorly understood but the highly proliferative nature of the hematopoietic cells is assumed to make the bone marrow more sensitive to toxicity. Recent evidence suggests that drugs can also affect specific aspects of stromal c ells and the extracellular matrix that they establish. The data support the view that characteristics other than a high proliferation rate could confe r susceptibility of the bone marrow to the toxic effects of drugs. This art icle discusses those drugs that have been shown to have direct effects on t he bone marrow stromal cells. (C) 2000 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. A ll rights reserved.