A review of the antineoplastic action of certain hydrazines and hydrazine-containing natural products.
The antineoplastic activities of hydrazines and hydrazine-containing natural products are summarized and reviewed. Many of these, including the base compound hydrazine, some of its 79 analogues and 2 hydrazine-containing cultivated mushrooms, exhibited antineoplastic actions in animals and some of them in humans. In addition, a substantial number of hydrazine analogues were further derivatized (altogether 331 derivatives were prepared) and studied to a limited extent for cancer chemotherapeutic activity in animals. Subsequently, only one hydrazine, N-isopropyl-alpha-(2-methylhydrazino)-p-toluamide HCl (procarbazine, natulan) was used extensively in human medicine. Because this drug is a highly carcinogenic substance in animals and since a substantial amount of evidence points to the possibility that it is co-carcinogenic or carcinogenic itself in humans, its use has largely been abandoned. Because well over 80% of the studied hydrazine class of compounds are carcinogenic, therefore, it may not be rewarding to search among them for cancer cure.
Toth
B
B
Eppley Institute for Research in Cancer, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha 68198, USA.
D000818:Animals; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006801:Humans; D006834:Hydrazines / Q000494:pharmacology*
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D006834:Hydrazines; C029424:hydrazine