Actinomycin D
Actinomycin D
Actinomycin D is an antibiotic that has potent anti-neoplastic properties. Actinomycin D is also known as Dactinomycin.
Dactinomycin is an effective anti-cancerous drug used for the treatment of Wilm's tumor and rhabdomyosarcoma.
- Dactinomycin is also effective against certain types of testicular and ovarian cancer.
- It is also found to be effective against Ewing's sarcoma and metastatic testicular carcinoma.
- For the cure of choriocarcinoma, dactinomycin is used with combination of methotrexate.
- Dactinomycin shows its action by causing single-strand breakage of DNA and by blocking RNA transcription due to its interference with template function of DNA.
- Thus dactinomycin helps in the inhibition of DNA replication and transcription of carcinogenic cells and stops their uncontrolled growth.
- Dactinomycin is produced by fermentation of Streptomyces parvulus.
- The structure of dactinomycin contains phenoxazone chromophore and two cyclic peptide chains.
- There are two cyclic chains of amino acids linked with peptide bond.
- The therapeutic dose of dactinomycin is 15 micrograms per kg of body mass.
- Dactinomycin is traded in the name of Dacmozen 0.5 mg/vial injection.
- Several adverse effects (side effect) of dactinomycin has been reported, some of them are vomiting, stomatitis, diarrhea, erythema, alopecia, desquamation of skin and bone marrow depression.
Reference- K.D Tripathi Medical Pharmacology 8th Edition.
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