Mitomycin-C Health Article

Definition

Mitomycin-C is also known as mitomycin and MMC. It is a medicine that kills cancer cells.

Purpose

Mitomycin-C may be used to fight a number of different cancers, including cancer of the stomach, colon, rectum, pancreas, breast, lung, uterus, cervix, bladder, head, neck, and esophagus.

It is impossible to provide a detailed description of how mitomycin-C may be combined with other medications in the treatment of each of these cancers, but some examples can be presented. In the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), one therapeutic regimen that may be used is known as MT, which consists of mitomycin-C, vindesine, and cisplatin.

Mitomycin-C is sometimes used in patients with colorectal cancer metastatic to the liver. However, the side effects of mitomycin-C, especially those involving the bone marrow and fatigue, are so great that other medications may be tried first.

For advanced stomach cancer, the FAM regimen may be used, which consists of fluorouracil, doxorubicin (adriamycin), and mitomycin-C. Mitomycin-C may also be used for colorectal cancer metastatic to the liver in combination with other medicines.

Description

Mitomycin-C is an antitumor antibiotic. Mechanistically however, it belongs to DNA covalent binding (alkylating) agents. Mitomycin-C, upon bioactivation, kills cancer cells by disrupting the activity of DNA within the cells. DNA is an acid that contains genetic material.

Recommended dosage

Twenty milligrams per square meter should be given intravenously every six to eight weeks when this medication is used alone. Alternately, five to ten milligrams per square meter may be given every six weeks when the drug is used in combination with other drugs. Mitomycin-C, leucovorin, and fluorouracil may be used to treat metastatic rectal cancer; this regimen includes an injection of 10 milligrams per square meter of mitomycin-C. When mitomycin-C is combined with vindesine and cisplatin in the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer, eight milligrams per square inch are administered intravenously on days one and twenty-nine of a six-week cycle.