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Journal of Pharmacology and Therapeutic Research
Volume 1 Issue 1
Clinical Pharmacy 2017
Notes:
Page 45
December 07-09, 2017 | Rome, Italy
7
th
World Congress on
Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacy Practice
Homocysteine plasma level correlates
with Methotrexate induced neurotoxicity in
treated pediatric cancer patients
Mona Khalifa, Wael Zekri, Ayda Youssef
and
Sanaa Kenawy
Cairo University, Egypt
D
espite its clinical success, methotrexate (MTX) therapy
is associated with toxicities such as neurotoxicity,
the pathogenesis of which remains unclear. It has been
suggested that hyperhomocysteinemia is caused by MTX
and is responsible for its neurotoxic effects. The aim of
this study was to explore whether hyperhomocysteinemia
was related to MTX-induced neurotoxicity. 29 cases with
newly diagnosed acute lymphoblastic leukemia or non-
hodgkin lymphoblastic lymphoma patients were studied;
they were treated on a single clinical protocol that included
four courses of high-dose methotrexate (HDMTX;
2.5 or 5.0 g/m2 per day) as consolidation therapy. A
trend for higher plasma homocysteine levels among
patients with neurotoxicity (P=0.005) was observed.
The study participants’ median plasma homocysteine
concentrations at 42 h. after 1st and 2nd HDMTX (16.5
µmol/L and 13 µmol/L, respectively) were greater than the
concentrations immediately before 1st and 2nd HDMTX (6
µmol/L and 7 µmol/L, respectively). The main complication
observed during this work was repeated vomiting other
complications were memory impairment, low activity. One
of the patients comatosed and developed convulsions after
the second-high dose MTX (MRI, Leucoencephalopathy),
while the observed MRI manifestations during the study
were demylination and leucoencephalopathy. It could be
concluded that homocysteine level was elevated after
HDMTX and its elevation may be related to neurotoxicity
risk in treated pediatric cancer patients.
Biography
Mona Khalifa is a Clinical Pharmacist at the National Cancer Institute, Cairo,
Egypt. She has completed her Bachelor’s degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences
from the School of pharmacy, Cairo University. This is the same university
where she also got her Master of Science in Pharmacology and Toxicology.
Her research interest is focusing on drug-related neurotoxicity in pediatrics and
off-label use of drugs for brain disorders.
drmona200@hotmail.comMona Khalifa et al., J Pharmacol Ther Res 2017