Pharmacological modulators of DNA-interactive antitumor drugs.

The poor therapeutic index and limited efficacy of current cancer chemotherapeutic agents represent an important pharmacological problem. Although there has been a significant increase in our understanding of the mechanisms by which anticancer drugs kill mammalian cells, identification of new, effective anticancer agents during the last decade has been exceeding slow. Thus, attention has focused on understanding the causes of drug resistance and on either sensitizing tumor cells to existing anticancer agents using what could be called 'chemoenhancers', or protecting non-malignant tissues against serious untoward effects using 'chemoprotectors'. John Lazo and Robert Bahnson review recent strategies attempting to modulate the activity of antineoplastic drugs.