Carcinogenicity of some anticancer drugs--a survey

A list of 37 anticancer drugs with reported carcinogenicity or co-carcinogenicity has been compiled. These drugs include 16 alkylating agents, eight antimetabolites, four antibiotics, four hormones, one alkaloid, and four miscellaneous drugs. The reported carcinogenicity of these drugs in model systems and their possible mechanisms of action are reviewed together with structure-carcinogenicity relationships. These drugs have been reported to cause cancers in different sites in various test animals. Most of these drugs react with DNA, and the ultimate reactive forms of the drugs are electrophiles.