Daunorubicin

Daunorubicin is an antibiotic chemotherapy treatment that is widely used to treat acute myeloid leukemia and acute lymphocytic leukemia. It is produced by the bacteria Streptomyces coeruleorubidis and was approved by the FDA as a first line therapy treatment for leukemia in 1998. In the U.S. daunorubicin is administered intravenously over the course of about fifteen minutes. It is marketed under the brand names Cerubidine, DaunoXome and Liposomal daunorubicin.

How Daunorubicin Works

Daunorubicin is an "anthracycline antibiotic." Anthracycline antibiotics are used in chemotherapy treatments because they:

• Insert themselves into the structural pattern of DNA
• Impair the ability of cell membranes to accept and release ions
• Create a backup of free radicals within cells

DNA structural patterns

DNA serves as an instruction guide for a cell, letting it know how to build the different parts it will need to work. RNA carries those instructions from the nucleus, out into the cell. Anthracycline antibiotics, such as daunorubicin, insert themselves into DNA code and thus interfere with a cell's ability to read and use its own genetic information. By attaching to DNA, anthracycline antibiotics perform another function; they block the duplication and division of DNA strands. To successfully divide, cells must create copies of their genetic information. Anthracycline antibiotics halt this process.

Cell membranes

Cell membranes protect cells by regulating the flow of materials into and out of them. Anthracycline antibiotics attach to the membranes of cells, disrupting their ability to move fluids and accept and release electrically charged particles, or "ions."

Chemical stability in cells

Anthracycline antibiotics create a backup of "free radicals" within cells. Free radicals are molecules that carry a chemical charge because they hold too many or too few electrons. To stabilize, they take electrons from larger molecules or give them to other molecules. Daunorubicin creates free radicals in cells by causing enzymes to remove electrons from certain molecules. The destabilized molecules (free radicals) will try to fill their electron shells by taking electrons from other molecules in the cell.

Daunorubicin slows the growth of cancer by disrupting homeostasis within cancer cells and by interfering with their ability to divide. Two other anthracycline antibiotics that fight cancer are doxorubicin and idarubicin.

Daunorubicin Side Effects and Risks

Daunorubicin lowers levels of healthy red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets in the body. Because these blood cells perform important functions, such as fighting infection and preventing bruising and excessive bleeding, their levels must be monitored. A complete blood count (CBC) test will be used to make sure the chemotherapy treatment will be safe for the patient. These tests must be taken before and after treatment. Patients receiving daunorubicin must take care to report any signs of sickness, bruising, or unusual bleeding.

Other side effects associated with daunorubicin include stomach pain, nausea, skin irritation, and hair loss. Also, women may lose the ability to become pregnant and men may be unable to father children.

It is important that you discuss your chemotherapy treatment options in detail with your doctor. Your doctor will be able to assess your case and determine what type of approach will yield the best results.

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