Norcantharidin (NCTD), a demethylated derivative of cantharidin, reportedly exhibits various biological anticancer activities including apoptosis, inhibition of cell proliferation, cell-cycle blockage, induction of cell apoptosis, and anti-angiogenesis. NCTD is currently used as an anticancer drug for hepatoma, breast cancer and colorectal adenocarcinoma. However, the effects of NCTD on the organs and tissues in vivo remain largely unknown. Here, we pathologically examined the effects of NCTD on the organs and tissues including liver, heart, kidney, spleen and medulla in mice. After mice were treated with 60 daily intraperitoneal injections of NCTD (2.5 mg/kg or 5 mg/kg), toxicity on the heart and kidneys were not discovered but on the liver was a significant increase according to the injection dose and the date. The number of leucocytes had a tendency to rise in the peripheral blood test and there weren’t any pathological changes in the spleen and medulla. NCTD has no side effects on spleen and hematopoietic system and applying for a considerable period at a certain dose may not reduce the number of leucocyte but rather shows tendency of increasing which will have great influence on the onco-immune of the host. It is concluded that NCTD is suitable for the application of the anti-cancer treatment with no myelo-suppression.
| Published in | Advances (Volume 6, Issue 4) |
| DOI | 10.11648/j.advances.20250604.13 |
| Page(s) | 123-130 |
| Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
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Copyright © The Author(s), 2025. Published by Science Publishing Group |
Norcantharidin (NCTD), Toxicity, Anti-tumor Drug
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APA Style
To, K., Han, D., Ri, H., Kim, J., Mun, G., et al. (2025). Effects of Norcantharidin on the Main Organs and Tissues of Mice. Advances, 6(4), 123-130. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.advances.20250604.13
ACS Style
To, K.; Han, D.; Ri, H.; Kim, J.; Mun, G., et al. Effects of Norcantharidin on the Main Organs and Tissues of Mice. Advances. 2025, 6(4), 123-130. doi: 10.11648/j.advances.20250604.13
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Download@article{10.11648/j.advances.20250604.13,
author = {Kwang-Il To and Dong-Min Han and Hong-Chol Ri and Jong-Hyok Kim and Gyong-Jin Mun and Hui-Won Kim and Jun-hyok Ryang and Chong-Hyok Han},
title = {Effects of Norcantharidin on the Main Organs and Tissues of Mice},
journal = {Advances},
volume = {6},
number = {4},
pages = {123-130},
doi = {10.11648/j.advances.20250604.13},
url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.advances.20250604.13},
eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.advances.20250604.13},
abstract = {Norcantharidin (NCTD), a demethylated derivative of cantharidin, reportedly exhibits various biological anticancer activities including apoptosis, inhibition of cell proliferation, cell-cycle blockage, induction of cell apoptosis, and anti-angiogenesis. NCTD is currently used as an anticancer drug for hepatoma, breast cancer and colorectal adenocarcinoma. However, the effects of NCTD on the organs and tissues in vivo remain largely unknown. Here, we pathologically examined the effects of NCTD on the organs and tissues including liver, heart, kidney, spleen and medulla in mice. After mice were treated with 60 daily intraperitoneal injections of NCTD (2.5 mg/kg or 5 mg/kg), toxicity on the heart and kidneys were not discovered but on the liver was a significant increase according to the injection dose and the date. The number of leucocytes had a tendency to rise in the peripheral blood test and there weren’t any pathological changes in the spleen and medulla. NCTD has no side effects on spleen and hematopoietic system and applying for a considerable period at a certain dose may not reduce the number of leucocyte but rather shows tendency of increasing which will have great influence on the onco-immune of the host. It is concluded that NCTD is suitable for the application of the anti-cancer treatment with no myelo-suppression.},
year = {2025}
}
TY - JOUR T1 - Effects of Norcantharidin on the Main Organs and Tissues of Mice AU - Kwang-Il To AU - Dong-Min Han AU - Hong-Chol Ri AU - Jong-Hyok Kim AU - Gyong-Jin Mun AU - Hui-Won Kim AU - Jun-hyok Ryang AU - Chong-Hyok Han Y1 - 2025/12/24 PY - 2025 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.advances.20250604.13 DO - 10.11648/j.advances.20250604.13 T2 - Advances JF - Advances JO - Advances SP - 123 EP - 130 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2994-7200 UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.advances.20250604.13 AB - Norcantharidin (NCTD), a demethylated derivative of cantharidin, reportedly exhibits various biological anticancer activities including apoptosis, inhibition of cell proliferation, cell-cycle blockage, induction of cell apoptosis, and anti-angiogenesis. NCTD is currently used as an anticancer drug for hepatoma, breast cancer and colorectal adenocarcinoma. However, the effects of NCTD on the organs and tissues in vivo remain largely unknown. Here, we pathologically examined the effects of NCTD on the organs and tissues including liver, heart, kidney, spleen and medulla in mice. After mice were treated with 60 daily intraperitoneal injections of NCTD (2.5 mg/kg or 5 mg/kg), toxicity on the heart and kidneys were not discovered but on the liver was a significant increase according to the injection dose and the date. The number of leucocytes had a tendency to rise in the peripheral blood test and there weren’t any pathological changes in the spleen and medulla. NCTD has no side effects on spleen and hematopoietic system and applying for a considerable period at a certain dose may not reduce the number of leucocyte but rather shows tendency of increasing which will have great influence on the onco-immune of the host. It is concluded that NCTD is suitable for the application of the anti-cancer treatment with no myelo-suppression. VL - 6 IS - 4 ER -
Institute of Chemistry and Biology, University of Sciences, Pyongyang, DPR Korea
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