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International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) - Summaries & Evaluations

VINBLASTINE SULPHATE

VOL.: 26 (1981) (p. 349)

5. Summary of Data Reported and Evaluation

5.1 Experimental data

Vinblastine sulphate was tested in three studies, two by intraperitoneal injection in mice and rats, and one by intravenous injection in rats. No evidence of carcinogenicity was found, but vinblastine sulphate has not been adequately tested at high doses.

Vinblastine sulphate can induce teratogenic effects in several animal species and embryolethality at doses nontoxic to the mother. On the basis of the available data, this compound cannot be considered to be mutagenic.

5.2 Human data

Vinblastine sulphate has been widely used since the early 1960s, almost always in combination with other cytotoxic agents, in the treatment of neoplastic diseases, particularly lymphoma.

The available data are insufficient to evaluate its teratogenic effects in humans. No data on the mutagenicity or chromosomal effects of vinblastine sulphate in humans were available.

Vinblastine sulphate, mainly in combination therapy, has been associated in case reports with the subsequent development of leukaemias. The only epidemiological study was small and of short duration and showed no excess of subsequent neoplasms in patients treated with a regimen including vinblastine sulphate, adriamycin, bleomycin and dacarbazine.

5.3 Evaluation

There is no evidence of carcinogenicity in rats or mice on the basis of the available data. The data from studies in man are inadequate to evaluate the carcinogenicity of vinblastine sulphate in humans.

There is no evidence currently available to indicate that vinblastine sulphate is carcinogenic to humans, but the compound has not been extensively investigated.

Subsequent evaluation: Suppl. 7 (1987)

Last updated: 8 April 1998 






























    See Also:
       Toxicological Abbreviations
       Vinblastine Sulphate  (IARC Summary & Evaluation, Supplement7, 1987)