Effect of diethyldithiocarbamate on toxicity of doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide and cis-diamminedichloroplatinum (II) on mice haemopoietic progenitor cells.

DBA/2NCr1BR F1 mice received a single i.v. injection of doxorubicin (4.32, 7.20 or 12.00 mg kg-1), cyclophosphamide (70, 120 or 200 mg kg-1) or cis-diamminechloroplatinum (5.4, 9.0 or 15.0 mg kg-1), alone or 2 h before an i.p. injection of 1,000 mg kg-1 of diethyldithiocarbamate (DDTC). Twenty-four hours after, survival of bone marrow colony forming units-spleen and granulocyte-macrophage colony forming cells, was determined. On the whole, administration of DDTC reduced the toxic effect of the three anticancer drugs on haemopoietic progenitors. The effect was in general more evident at the lower than at the higher doses of the antitumour drugs.