Daunorubicine in Acute Myelogenous Leukemia in Adults

Daunorubicine (daunomycin, rubidomycin) is an antibiotic with antitumor activity in a wide variety of transplantable animal tumors. Its biologic mechanism of action is by inhibition of deoxyribonucleic acid synthesis with a lesser inhibition on ribonucleic acid synthesis. It is effective in certain solid tumors, and clinical investigations show a potent antileukemic activity. Twelve adult patients with acute myelogenous leukemia were given daunorubicine, 1 mg/kg of body weight, daily for five days. Three complete and two partial remissions were obtained. Bone marrow hypoplasia was the primary toxic reaction encountered. This drug appears to be an effective therapy for the induction of remissions in adults with acute myelogenous leukemia. Since cardiopulmonary toxic reactions have been reported with large total doses of daunorubicine, maintenance therapy with other chemotherapeutic agents has been employed.