1 School of Medicine, The University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan.
2 Department of Medical Laboratory Sciences, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences , Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid, Jordan.
3 Department of Biology, School of Science, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada.
4 Department of Biology, School of Science, University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan.
5 Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, School of Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, United States.

Genotoxicity of cisplatin and carboplatin in cultured human lymphocytes: a comparative study.

Interdiscip Toxicol. 2019 Oct;12(2):93-97

Authors: Azab B, Alassaf A, Abu-Humdan A, Dardas Z, Almousa H, Alsalem M, Khabour O, Hammad H, Saleh T, Awidi A

Abstract

Cisplatin and carboplatin are integral parts of many antineoplastic management regimens. Both platinum analogues are potent DNA alkylating agents that robustly induce genomic instability and promote apoptosis in tumor cells. Although the mechanism of action of both drugs is similar, cisplatin appears to be more cytotoxic. In this study, the genotoxic potential of cisplatin and carboplatin was compared using chromosomal aberrations (CAs) and sister-chromatid exchange (SCE) assays in cultured human lymphocytes. Results showed that cisplatin and carboplatin induced a significant increase in CAs and SCEs compared to the control group (p<0.01). Levels of induced CAs were similar in both drugs; however, the magnitude of SCEs induced by cisplatin was significantly higher than that induced by carboplatin (p<0.01). With respect to the mitotic and proliferative indices, both cisplatin and carboplatin significantly decreased mitotic index (p<0.01) without affecting the proliferative index (p>0.05). In conclusion, cisplatin was found to be more genotoxic than carboplatin in the SCE assay in cultured human lymphocytes, and that might explain the higher cytotoxicity of cisplatin.

PMID: 32206030 [PubMed]