N-acetyl cysteine for prevention of oral mucositis in hematopoietic SCT: a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial.

Oral mucositis (OM) is a complication of high-dose chemotherapy (HDC) which is frequently observed in hematopoietic SCT settings. Antioxidant agents have been proposed to prevent OM and therefore N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) could have an important role. In the present study, we conducted a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study to evaluate the NAC effect on OM incidence and severity, and also glutathione peroxidase-1 activity. Leukemia patients undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic SCT preceded by HDC were recruited into the study and received either NAC (100 mg/kg/day) (n=38) or placebo (n=42) from the starting day of HDC until day +15 after transplantation. OM was evaluated daily for 21 days after transplantation according to World Health Organization oral toxicity scale. The incidence of severe OM (grades 3-4) was significantly lower in the NAC group (23.7% vs 45.3%, P=0.04). Moreover, the mean duration of OM was significantly shorter in the intervention group (6.24(2.96) vs 8.12(3.97) days, P=0.02). The glutathione peroxidase-1 activity was also significantly higher in the NAC group seven days after transplantation (3.38(2.19) vs 2.41(1.70) ng/mL, P=0.003). It is concluded that parenteral NAC is effective in reducing the incidence of severe cases and the total duration of OM.

The efficacy of selenium in prevention of oral mucositis in patients undergoing hematopoietic SCT: a randomized clinical trial.

Oral mucositis (OM) is a complication of high-dose chemotherapy (HDC) followed by hematopoietic SCT (HSCT) with few effective treatments. Selenium has a cytoprotective role via the glutathione peroxidase (Glu.Px) enzyme and prevents chemotherapy-induced toxicities. We performed a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study to evaluate the efficacy of selenium on the prevention of OM in 77 patients with leukemia, undergoing allogeneic HSCT. Thirty-seven patients received oral selenium tablets (200 mcg twice daily) from the starting day of HDC to 14 days after transplantation. OM was evaluated daily for 21 days after transplantation according to World Health Organization oral toxicity scale. The incidence of severe OM (grades 3-4) was significantly lower in the selenium group (10.8% vs 35.1%, P<0.05). We noted that the duration of objective OM (grades 2-4), excluding patient's self-declaration (grade 1), was significantly shorter in the selenium group (3.6±1.84 vs 5.3±2.2 days, P=0.014). Significant elevations in serum selenium level and plasma Glu.Px activity were observed 7 and 14 days after transplantation compared with baseline in the selenium group. We conclude that selenium can reduce the duration and severity of OM after HDC. Clinicaltrial.org ID: NCT01432873.

Population pharmacokinetics of oral high-dose busulfan in adult patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

BACKGROUND AND THE PURPOSE OF THE STUDY: Many factors have been reported that contribute to the wide intra- and inter-patient variability of Busulfan (Bu) disposition. The purpose of this study was to develop a population pharmacokinetic model and to determine the covariates affecting the pharmacokinetics (PK) of Bu in Iranian adult patients who received oral high-dose as a conditioning regimen before Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (HSCT). METHODS: A population PK analysis was performed in 30 patients who received an oral Bu and cyclophosphamide regimen before HSCT. Bu was given orally according to the protocol of the institution. In order to prevent seizures caused by Bu, phenytoin was administered orally one hour before each dose of Bu.A total of 180 blood samples were analyzed by HPLC and PK parameters were estimated by the non-linear mixed effect model by MONOLIX 3.1 program. A one-compartment model with an additive error model was used to describe the concentration-time profile of Bu. RESULTS: Patients' disease and weight was found to be the determinant factors for clearance (CL) and the volume of distribution (Vd) according to Monolix analysis. The covariate entered in final model followed by these equations:[Formula: see text][Formula: see text] In this limited study, the age (15-43 years) had no significant effect. For a patient weighting 60 kg, the typical CL and Vd were estimated to be 13.4 l/hr and 42.6 L, respectively. The interindividual variability of CL and Vd were 13.6 and 6.3%, respectively. There was no significant metabolic induction in these four days as is evident by comparing the trough levels of Bu. However it should be mentioned that, one tailed t-test p-values of the days of two and three, two and four and three and four were 0.083, 0.069 and 0.388, respectively. MAJOR CONCLUSIONS: Results of this study showed that the type of disease was a determinant of CL and the weight of patient was a determinant of Vd for Bu population PK parameters. A reliable PK parameters and Css, estimated from only one plasma concentrations (5 hrs after the first dose), were validated. Since these methods require few sampling and are easy to be used, the limited sampling methods might be advantageous in the routine clinical practice.