Bosanquet A G, Burlton A R
Bath Cancer Research Unit, Royal United Hospital UK.
Cytotechnology. 1994;16(2):131-6. doi: 10.1007/BF00754615.
Treosulfan and busulphan are similar molecules, the former used in the treatment of ovarian cancer and the latter in chronic myelogenous leukaemia. We have used both in the differential staining cytotoxicity (DiSC) assay for in vitro drug sensitivity testing to aid in the choice of chemotherapy for individual patients. It was observed that occasionally the viability of control cells in one assay box was reduced compared with control cells in other boxes from the same assay. Treosulfan was suspected as the cause because cells throughout the microtitre box containing treosulfan had reduced viability in 28/62 (45%) experiments and in 9 of these, total kill of all cells in the box was observed. We tested the hypothesis that a metabolite of treosulfan might be the cause of this airborne cytotoxicity, and found that whilst 10 mg ml-1 of either methane sulphonic acid or tetrahydrofuran had no airborne cytotoxic effect, 1 mg ml-1 diepoxybutane killed over 95% of cells in all tubes in the same box. Treosulfan is another chemical (cf. azide, mafosfamide and possibly other cytotoxic agents) that can cause airborne cytotoxicity.
曲奥舒凡和白消安是类似的分子，前者用于治疗卵巢癌，后者用于治疗慢性粒细胞白血病。我们已将二者用于差异染色细胞毒性（DiSC）试验，以进行体外药物敏感性测试，辅助为个体患者选择化疗方案。据观察，在同一次试验中，偶尔会出现一个试验盒中对照细胞的活力低于其他试验盒中对照细胞的情况。曲奥舒凡被怀疑是造成这种情况的原因，因为在含有曲奥舒凡的微量滴定板孔中的所有细胞，在28/62（45%）的实验中活力均降低，其中有9次观察到孔内所有细胞全部死亡。我们检验了曲奥舒凡的一种代谢产物可能是这种空气传播细胞毒性的原因这一假设，结果发现，虽然10 mg/ml的甲磺酸或四氢呋喃均无空气传播细胞毒性作用，但1 mg/ml的1,4-二氧六环丁烷可杀死同一试验盒中所有试管内95%以上的细胞。曲奥舒凡是另一种可导致空气传播细胞毒性的化学物质（参见叠氮化物、马磷酰胺以及可能的其他细胞毒性剂）。
