mercaptopurine and Mycosis-Fungoides

Three cases of secondary leukemia developing after chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy for myeloma, mycosis fungoides, and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma are reported. The first case was a 51-year-old man with IgG-lambda myeloma, treated with melphalan and prednisolone, who developed acute myelomonocytic leukemia 54 months after the diagnosis of myeloma. The second case was a 54-year-old woman with mycosis fungoides treated with radiation, predonine, and cyclophosphamide, who developed acute megakaryoblastic leukemia 298 months after the diagnosis of mycosis fungoides. The third case was a 35-year-old woman with stage IV non-Hodgkin's lymphoma treated with VEMP who developed acute myelogenous leukemia 26 months after the diagnosis of malignant lymphoma. All cases showed pancytopenia and two of three cases had morphologic abnormality in several hemopoietic cell lineages in the leukemic stage. There is a possibility that second malignancies are an increasingly recognized complication in the patients treated with a large amount of chemo-radiotherapy.

Topics: Adult; Antineoplastic Agents; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols; Cyclophosphamide; Female; Humans; Leukemia; Leukemia, Megakaryoblastic, Acute; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute; Leukemia, Radiation-Induced; Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin; Male; Melphalan; Mercaptopurine; Middle Aged; Multiple Myeloma; Mycosis Fungoides; Pancytopenia; Prednisolone; Vincristine

Topics: Aged; Humans; Male; Mercaptopurine; Mycosis Fungoides; Stevens-Johnson Syndrome

Topics: Adrenal Cortex Hormones; Chlorambucil; Cyclophosphamide; Dermatitis, Exfoliative; Genetic Diseases, X-Linked; Geriatrics; Hodgkin Disease; Leukemia; Leukemia, Hairy Cell; Leukemia, Lymphoid; Lymphatic Diseases; Lymphoma; Lymphoma, Large B-Cell, Diffuse; Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin; Mercaptopurine; Methotrexate; Mycosis Fungoides; Neoplasms; Pathology; Peptide Nucleic Acids; Physiology; Sarcoma; Severe Combined Immunodeficiency

Current trends in the search for chemical compounds having an inhibitory action on the growth of malignant cells are reviewed in this article. Several agents are sufficiently promising that clinical trials with them are in progress. One of these, an aromatic nitrogen mustard (C.B. 1348), appears to be useful as an adjunctive therapeutic measure in patients with malignant lymphoma, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, and mycosis fungoides who have become refractory to other methods of treatment. The introduction of certain purine antagonists, of which 6-mercaptopurine has been given the most extensive clinical trial, has opened up a new field of experimental and clinical investigation. 6-mercaptopurine and related compounds appear to be particularly useful in the treatment of acute leukemia in adults, but they are also useful, together with the folic acid antagonists and the steroid hormones, in the management of acute leukemia in children. While at present chemotherapeutic agents currently under investigation rarely cause significant regression of inoperable primary or metastatic solid tumors, the possibility of eventual more effective control in many types of malignant disease is not as dismal as it was a decade ago.

Topics: Adult; Antineoplastic Agents; Humans; Leukemia; Leukemia, Lymphocytic, Chronic, B-Cell; Lymphoma; Mercaptopurine; Mycosis Fungoides; Neoplasms

Topics: Humans; Mercaptopurine; Mycosis Fungoides