Etoposide pharmacokinetics in children treated for acute myeloid leukemia.

We studied the pharmacokinetics of etoposide in 45 children treated for newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia. Etoposide, 100 mg/m body surface area/24 h, was administered by 96-h continuous intravenous infusion. Concomitantly, the children received cytarabine 200 mg/m/24 h by intravenous infusion and 6-thioguanine 100 mg/m twice daily orally.

Real-time RT-PCR for the determination of topoisomerase II mRNA level in leukaemic cells.

We developed a real-time RT-PCR assay for the quantification of topoisomerase II (topo II) mRNA level. It was applied on peripheral leukaemic cells from 23 patients with acute myelogenous leukaemia (AML) and 23 with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL). RNA template dilutions from 0.

Reduced DNA ligase activity in etoposide resistant human lymphatic leukaemia CEM cells.

Drug resistance is an obstacle preventing success of cancer chemotherapy. Resistance of vaccinia virus towards the topoisomerase II (topo II) targeting anti-cancer drug etoposide has been mapped to the viral DNA ligase gene. The present study was performed to elucidate if the DNA ligase activity, besides topo II levels, was altered in human lymphatic leukaemia cell strains with different levels of etoposide resistance.