Author Description

This monograph is about the development of mitosenes and related antitumor drugs. Mitosenes are derived from the clinically used cytostatic agent mitomycin C, the prototype of a bioreductive alkylating agent. It covers the general synthetic routes towards mitosenes, the various types of DNA damage that can result from treatment of DNA with mitosenes, and the biochemical and physico-chemical factors that appear to modulate their activity. Opportunities to increase mitosene antitumor activity are discussed, and an overview of the in vitro, in vivo and clinical testing of this type of compounds is presented.