Dacarbazine

Absorption

Erratic, slow and incomplete.

Toxicity

LD50=350mg/kg (orally in mice)

Description

Dacarbazine is nevertheless considered the first representative of the series of triazene derivatives. It has been shown that it is an alkylating agent, and thus this drug inhibits RNA and protein synthesis to a greater degree than DNA. Dacarbazine is used intravenously for Hodgkin’s disease, soft-tissue sarcoma, and metastatic melanoma. A synonym of this drug is diticene.

The Uses of Dacarbazine

Dacarbazine is used as an antineoplastic for treatment of malignant melanoma and sarcomas.

Background

An antineoplastic agent. It has significant activity against melanomas. (from Martindale, The Extra Pharmacopoeia, 31st ed, p564). Dacarbazine with Oblimersen is in clinical trials for the treatment of malignant melanoma.

Indications

For the treatment of metastatic malignant melanoma. In addition, dacarbazine is also indicated for Hodgkin's disease as a secondary-line therapy when used in combination with other antineoplastic agents.

What are the applications of Application

Dacarbazine is appears to exert cytotoxic effects

Pharmacokinetics

Dacarbazine is a synthetic analog of naturally occurring purine precursor 5-amino-1H-imidazole-4-carboxamide (AIC). After intravenous administration of dacarbazine, the volume of distribution exceeds total body water content suggesting localization in some body tissue, probably the liver. Its disappearance from the plasma is biphasic with initial half-life of 19 minutes and a terminal half-life of 5 hours. 1 In a patient with renal and hepatic dysfunctions, the half-lives were lengthened to 55 minutes and 7.2 hours. 1 The average cumulative excretion of unchanged DTIC in the urine is 40% of the injected dose in 6 hours. 1 DTIC is subject to renal tubular secretion rather than glomerular filtration. At therapeutic concentrations dacarbazine is not appreciably bound to human plasma protein.

Metabolism

Hepatic