近日，美国《国家科学院院刊》杂志上刊登的一项研究成果表明，几种常用的化疗药物可能会影响后代的基因，在动物实验中，服用了化疗药物的实验鼠后代出现基因变异。研究人员建议，接受化疗的癌症患者若想生育，应该先停药一段时间。
英国莱斯特大学研究人员测试了3种常用来治疗癌症的化疗药物，它们是环磷酰胺、丝裂霉素C和甲基苄肼。研究人员给实验鼠服用相当于临床治疗剂量的药物，结果发现，虽然实验鼠是在停药数月后才繁殖，但它们后代的基因组中还是出现了异常变异。
研究人员尤里·杜布罗瓦说，这是一个引人关注的现象，至于这些药物在人类患者体内会不会有类似作用，还不能简单类推。这是因为实验鼠的寿命只有约两年，比人类要短得多，它们服药与繁殖后代之间的时间间隔不是很长，而人类可选择长期停药后再生育。
接受化疗的癌症患者中，许多人已经过了生育年龄，因此在这个问题上，更值得关注的人群主要是需要化疗的年轻癌症患者。据介绍，医学界对此已采取了一些预防措施，通常会告知患者在化疗停药至少一年后再考虑生育。(生物谷 Bioon.com)
doi:10.1073/pnas.1119396109
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Exposure to anticancer drugs can result in transgenerational genomic instability in mice
Glen, Colin D.; Dubrova, Yuri E
The genetic effects of human exposure to anticancer drugs remain poorly understood. To establish whether exposure to anticancer drugs can result not only in mutation induction in the germ line of treated animals, but also in altered mutation rates in their offspring, we evaluated mutation rates in the offspring of male mice treated with three commonly used chemotherapeutic agents: cyclophosphamide, mitomycin C, and procarbazine. The doses of paternal exposure were approximately equivalent to those used clinically. Using single-molecule PCR, the frequency of mutation at the mouse expanded simple tandem repeat locus Ms6-hm was established in DNA samples extracted from sperm and bone marrow of the offspring of treated males. After paternal exposure to any one of these three drugs, expanded simple tandem repeat mutation frequencies were significantly elevated in the germ line (sperm) and bone marrow of their offspring. This observed transgenerational instability was attributed to elevated mutation rates at the alleles derived from both the exposed fathers and from the nonexposed mothers, thus implying a genome-wide destabilization. Our results suggest that paternal exposure to a wide variety of mutagens can result in transgenerational instability manifesting in their offspring. Our data also raise important issues concerning delayed transgenerational effects in the children of survivors of anticancer therapy.
