Assessment by the micronucleus assay of the genotoxicity among hospitalized breast cancer patients subjected to antineoplastic polychemotherapy

Abstract

After cardiovascular diseases, cancer is the second cause of death amongst the global Population. Cancer therapy including surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, hormonotherapy and immunotherapy, can treat cancer or reduce tumor growth. Because of the cytotoxicity and the genotoxicity of chemotherapeutic drugs, cancer patients suffer from several side effects like nausea, vomiting and alopecia. The genotoxicity is a word used in genetic to describe the destructive effect on the genetic material of the cell caused by substances called genotoxins. There are many assays to evaluate the genotoxicity. We used in this study the micronucleus assay to evaluate the genotoxic potential of antineoplastic drugs used by breast cancer patients in the oncology department of Jijel hospital. The result was as we expected the antineoplastic drugs have high genotoxic potential. We observed a high number of micronucleated erythrocytes in the blood of cancer patients subjected to chemotherapy combination cyclophosphamide + Adriamycin and cyclophosphamide + docetaxel+ cytarabine.