Hydroxyurea is commonly used in the
treatment of myeloproliferative
diseases and in
patients with
sickle cell disease (SCD). The use of this
antineoplastic agent in
patients with SCD is justified because of the
drug's
ability to increase
fetal hemoglobin levels, thereby decreasing the severity of SCD. However, high doses or prolonged
treatment with
hydroxyurea can be cytotoxic or genotoxic for these
patients, with an increased
risk of developing acute
leukemia. This danger can be avoided by
monitoring the
lymphocytes of
patients treated with
hydroxyurea.
Cytogenetic tests are important endpoints for
monitoring the physiological effects of physical and
chemical agents, including
drugs. In this
work, we assessed the
genotoxicity of
hydroxyurea in short-term
cultures of
lymphocytes from SCD
patients.
Hydroxyurea was not cytotoxic or genotoxic at the concentrations tested in the
G2 phase of the
cell cycle. These results support the use of
hydroxyurea in the
treatment of SCD, although further
work is necessary to understand the effects of this
drug in vivo.