ChemotherapyFDA-approvedFirst-line
Adriamycin (Doxorubicin)
Generic name: doxorubicin
How it works
Interferes with DNA replication in cancer cells, causing them to die.
Cancer types
Breast Cancer— All patients
Efficacy
Studies show that doxorubicin can induce a partial response in around 30% of patients with metastatic breast cancer.
Side effects
Severe
This treatment carries a higher risk of serious side effects. Close medical monitoring is required throughout treatment.
Evidence from research
| Study | Cancer type | Stage | Efficacy | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Understanding Doxorubicin Resistance in Breast Cancer Cells | Breast Cancer | lab-study | — | Source → |
| Combining Peptide and Doxorubicin May Help Treat Triple-Negative Breast Cancer | Breast Cancer | lab-study | — | Source → |
| Myoglobin's Role in Breast Cancer Treatment Response | Breast Cancer | lab-study | — | Source → |
| Plant Compounds Enhance Chemotherapy in Colorectal Cancer Cells | Colorectal Cancer | lab-study | Combined treatments with doxorubicin significantly reduced cell viability to approximately 10% in Caco2 cells. | Source → |
| Exosomes May Contribute to Doxorubicin Resistance in Breast Cancer | Breast Cancer | lab-study | — | Source → |
| FTY720 Makes Cancer Cells More Sensitive to Doxorubicin | Leukemia | lab-study | — | Source → |
| Researchers Identify Metabolic Patterns Linked to Heart Damage in Breast Cancer Patients | Breast Cancer | lab-study | — | Source → |
| Chemotherapy Resistance in Breast Cancer Linked to Blood Vessel Changes | Breast Cancer | animal-study | — | Source → |
| Researchers Study How Tumors Resist Chemotherapy | Breast Cancer | lab-study | — | Source → |
| Researchers Create Resistant Leukemia Cells to Study Drug Resistance | Leukemia | lab-study | — | Source → |
| Understanding Doxorubicin's Heart Damage in Cancer Treatment | Breast Cancer | review | — | Source → |
| DNA Damage Repair Pathways and Doxorubicin-Resistant Breast Cancer | Breast Cancer | review | — | Source → |
| Researchers Identify How Lung Cancer Cells Resist Chemotherapy | Lung Cancer | lab-study | — | Source → |
| New Biomarker for Heart Damage from Cancer Treatment | Breast Cancer | phase-2 | — | Source → |
| New Nanocarriers for Delivering Cancer Medicine | Breast Cancer | lab-study | The nanocarriers exhibited pronounced pH-dependent doxorubicin release and enhanced cytotoxicity toward MCF-7 cells (IC₅₀ = 0.8 ± 0.1 μM) | Source → |
| Testing Treatments for Advanced Triple Negative Breast Cancer | Breast Cancer | phase-2 | — | Source → |
| Evaluating Dapagliflozin to Prevent Heart Damage from Doxorubicin | Breast Cancer | phase-2 | — | Source → |
| Microneedle Patch Improves Doxorubicin Delivery for Breast Cancer | Breast Cancer | animal-study | Tumor inhibition rate was 90.61% in a 4T1 tumor-bearing mouse model. | Source → |
| Doxorubicin Resistance Found in Leukemia Cells Grown in Lab | Leukemia | lab-study | Only 0.26±0.21% of the resistant cells entered late apoptosis after 24h doxorubicin exposure. | Source → |
| Understanding Resistance to Doxorubicin in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer | Breast Cancer | lab-study | — | Source → |
| New Nanoparticle Delivery System Shows Promise for Lung Cancer Treatment | Lung Cancer | lab-study | The IC50 value was 1.36 μM, compared to 1.9 μM for free DOX. | Source → |
| Detecting Cancer Drug Concentration in Cells | Breast Cancer | lab-study | — | Source → |
| TBX20 linked to doxorubicin resistance in breast cancer cells | Breast Cancer | lab-study | — | Source → |
| Combining Doxorubicin and Zm-093 May Enhance Apoptosis in Breast Cancer Cells | Breast Cancer | lab-study | The combined treatment resulted in a 57% reduction in Bcl-2 expression compared to the control group. | Source → |
| Combining Peptide and Chemotherapy May Help Treat Breast Cancer | Breast Cancer | lab-study | Nisin demonstrated cytotoxic effect against breast cancer MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cells with IC50 values of 5-8 µM. | Source → |
| Long non-coding RNA STMN1P2 linked to breast cancer resistance to doxorubicin | Breast Cancer | lab-study | — | Source → |
| New Compound Shows Promise in Treating Prostate Cancer | Prostate Cancer | lab-study | — | Source → |
| Dichloroacetate Enhances Chemotherapy Effectiveness in Some Breast Cancer Cells | Breast Cancer | lab-study | The cell line MCF7 exhibited the highest rate of inhibition, followed by MDA-MB-231 and T47D. | Source → |
| Doxorubicin's kidney damage linked to SIRT1/HSF1 pathway | Ovarian Cancer | animal-study | — | Source → |
| Ovarian Cancer and Heart Damage: New Research and Treatment Strategies | Ovarian Cancer | review | — | Source → |
| Combining Cold Plasma and Doxorubicin May Help Fight Melanoma | Melanoma | meta-analysis | The pooled analysis found that the CAP and DOX combination had a significant effect on cell viability (ES = 6.75, 95% CI 1.65 to 11.85) and cytotoxicity (ES = 11.71, 95% CI 3.69 to 19.73). | Source → |
| Viscosity Affects Colon Cancer Cells' Resistance to Doxorubicin | Colorectal Cancer | lab-study | — | Source → |
| New Tool Helps Target Cancer Treatment with Light | Ovarian Cancer | lab-study | — | Source → |
| Pegylated Liposomal Doxorubicin Shows Promise in Ovarian Cancer Treatment | Ovarian Cancer | phase-2 | The median progression-free survival was 6.8 months (95% CI, 4.4-9.3 months), and the median overall survival was 19.1 months (95% CI, 15.0-23.3 months). | Source → |
| Understanding Chemotherapy Resistance in Ovarian Cancer | Ovarian Cancer | lab-study | — | Source → |
| New Hydrogel System Tested for Treating Melanoma | Melanoma | lab-study | — | Source → |
| Understanding Doxorubicin's Effectiveness in Breast Cancer Treatment | Breast Cancer | lab-study | — | Source → |
| Nanoparticles Deliver Cancer Drugs More Effectively | Breast Cancer | lab-study | BBR/CS-DOX demonstrated stronger pro-apoptotic and anti-metastatic effect in vitro and in vivo, respectively | Source → |
| Doxorubicin Resistance Linked to Gene Expression Changes | Colorectal Cancer | lab-study | — | Source → |
| Researchers Investigate Doxorubicin Resistance in Leukemia Cells | Leukemia | lab-study | — | Source → |
| Propofol May Enhance Effectiveness of Ovarian Cancer Treatments | Ovarian Cancer | lab-study | — | Source → |
| Cancer Gene Linked to Doxorubicin Resistance in Ovarian Cancer | Ovarian Cancer | lab-study | The tumor growth inhibition rate rose in the si-CASC11 group in comparison with that in the si-NC group (P < 0.05). | Source → |
| Cancer Cells May Develop Resistance to Doxorubicin with Help from Surrounding Tissue Cells | Ovarian Cancer | lab-study | — | Source → |
| Cadmium-based Complex Loaded with Doxorubicin Shows Promise Against Leukemia | Leukemia | lab-study | — | Source → |
| Targeted Cancer Treatment Shows Promise for Colorectal Cancer | Colorectal Cancer | lab-study | DOX-P exhibited superior antitumor activity against colorectal cancer than that of DOX. | Source → |
| STK32C and Doxorubicin Resistance in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer | Breast Cancer | lab-study | — | Source → |
| Targeted Cancer Therapy Using Smart Nanosystem | Breast Cancer | lab-study | — | Source → |
| Ovarian Cancer Cells Show Resistance to Platinum-Based Chemotherapy | Ovarian Cancer | lab-study | — | Source → |
| Trabectedin's Role in Ovarian Cancer Treatment | Ovarian Cancer | review | — | Source → |
| New Compound Enhances Effectiveness of Cancer Treatment in Lab Experiments | Breast Cancer | lab-study | — | Source → |
| Cardiac MRI Helps Predict Heart Damage in Cancer Survivors | Leukemia | lab-study | — | Source → |
| Drug Interactions in Breast Cancer Patients | Breast Cancer | observational | — | Source → |
| New Nanoparticles Show Promise in Treating Breast Cancer | Breast Cancer | lab-study | The cell viability declined to 13.98% in 24 hours at a concentration of 60 μg mL. | Source → |
| Combining Doxorubicin and Oleanolic Acid May Improve Pancreatic Cancer Treatment | Pancreatic Cancer | lab-study | — | Source → |
| Combining Trimetazidine and Doxorubicin May Improve Cancer Treatment | Breast Cancer | animal-study | The DOX/TMZ combination exhibited a synergistic effect at both DOX/TMZ 1:10 and 1:5 ratios. | Source → |
| New Nanosystem for Treating Melanoma Cancer | Melanoma | lab-study | — | Source → |
| Insulin's Effect on Breast Cancer Cells' Resistance to Doxorubicin | Breast Cancer | lab-study | — | Source → |
| New Options for Ovarian Cancer Treatment | Ovarian Cancer | meta-analysis | The risk of death was significantly decreased with carboplatin + pegylated liposomal doxorubicin + bevacizumab compared to platinum-based doublet CT (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.59, 95%CI 0.35, 1). | Source → |
| GATA3 linked to doxorubicin resistance in breast cancer | Breast Cancer | lab-study | — | Source → |
| Doxorubicin Chemotherapy's Long-Term Effect on Children's Hearts | Leukemia | observational | — | Source → |
| New Cancer Treatment Combination Shows Promise in Ovarian Cancer | Ovarian Cancer | preclinical | The objective response rate was 27.7% (95% CI 17.3% to 40.2%), including one complete (1.5%) and 17 partial responses (26.2%), with median duration of response of 7.6 (95% CI 3.3 to 10.2) months and median progression-free survival of 5.0 (95% CI 3.2 to 6.0) months. | Source → |
| Combining Hesperidin and Doxorubicin May Help Treat Aggressive Breast Cancer | Breast Cancer | lab-study | — | Source → |
| Caffeic Acid Phenethyl Ester May Help Overcome Chemotherapy Resistance in Breast Cancer | Breast Cancer | lab-study | — | Source → |
| Naringin May Help Reduce Liver Damage from Doxorubicin | Leukemia | lab-study | — | Source → |
| New Nanocarriers Deliver Cancer Drugs More Effectively | Breast Cancer | lab-study | Nio-Cis-Dox-AL showed appropriate encapsulation efficiencies of 65.54 ± 1.25% and 80.65 ± 1.80% for Cis and Dox, respectively. | Source → |
| Dexrazoxane Protects Heart Function in Childhood Cancer Survivors | Leukemia | phase-3 | Dexrazoxane was associated with a reduced risk of having lower left ventricular function (odds ratio, 0.24 [95% CI, 0.07 to 0.81]). | Source → |
| Hypertension and Heart Failure in Breast Cancer Patients | Breast Cancer | observational | The RAS inhibitor group had a lower risk for primary outcome (adjusted HR = 0.78, 95% CI = 0.65-0.94) and death (adjusted HR = 0.81, 95% CI = 0.66-0.99) compared to the non-HT group. | Source → |
| Targeted Cancer Treatment Shows Promise in Lab Experiments | Breast Cancer | lab-study | — | Source → |
| Lubeluzole May Help Cancer Treatment Work Better | Ovarian Cancer | lab-study | — | Source → |
| Combining Cancer Treatments May Improve Effectiveness in Breast Cancer Cells | Breast Cancer | lab-study | The triple-combination synergistically inhibited cell growth, achieving a combination index of 0.672 and 0.157 in MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 cells, respectively. | Source → |
| Optimizing Chemotherapy Schedules for Breast Cancer | Breast Cancer | lab-study | — | Source → |
| Combining Epigenetic and Chemotherapy Treatments for Breast Cancer | Breast Cancer | lab-study | — | Source → |
| Combination Therapy Tested in Ovarian Cancer Patients | Ovarian Cancer | phase-2 | The overall objective response rate was 8.7%. | Source → |
| Vitamin E and Doxorubicin Combination in Breast Cancer Cells | Breast Cancer | lab-study | The antiproliferative effect of doxorubicin increased significantly in combination with vitamin E (P=0.000). | Source → |
| Circular RNA May Contribute to Breast Cancer Progression and Treatment Resistance | Breast Cancer | lab-study | CircATXN7 silencing suppressed breast cancer development and doxorubicin resistance. | Source → |
| New Approach to Target Prostate Cancer with Fewer Side Effects | Prostate Cancer | lab-study | — | Source → |
| Camel Urine May Enhance Effectiveness of Cancer Treatment | Breast Cancer | lab-study | — | Source → |
| Combining Two Drugs in Nanoparticles to Fight Resistant Breast Cancer | Breast Cancer | lab-study | The (DOX + CUR)-FA-NPs displayed the highest cell apoptosis and cellular uptake in MCF-7/ADR cells. | Source → |
| Anthracyclines in Patients with Heart Failure and Leukemia | Leukemia | observational | — | Source → |
| Loperamide Sensitizes Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Cells to Doxorubicin | Breast Cancer | lab-study | Adding Loperamide to Doxorubicin reduced its IC50 by twofolds compared with Doxorubicin alone. | Source → |
| Combining Cisplatinum and Doxorubicin May Help Treat Rare Breast Cancer | Breast Cancer | animal-study | Only the combination treatment regressed the tumor. | Source → |
| Targeted Nanoparticles Help Deliver Cancer Medicine | Breast Cancer | lab-study | — | Source → |
| MicroRNAs and Doxorubicin Resistance in Breast Cancer | Breast Cancer | review | — | Source → |
| Enhancing Doxorubicin's Effect on Breast Cancer with New Nanoparticles | Breast Cancer | lab-study | — | Source → |
| Researchers Develop New Bone Cement to Deliver Cancer-Fighting Medicine | Lung Cancer | animal-study | — | Source → |
| Combining Two Drugs to Treat Advanced Ovarian Cancer | Ovarian Cancer | phase-1 | The overall response rate was 27.8%. | Source → |
| Rare Case of Breast Cancer Patient Survives Twice with Chemotherapy | Breast Cancer | observational | — | Source → |
| Combining Apigenin and Doxorubicin May Help Treat Prostate Cancer | Prostate Cancer | lab-study | — | Source → |
| Cancer Protein Silencing May Help Overcome Doxorubicin Resistance | Breast Cancer | lab-study | — | Source → |
| New Approach to Treating Triple Negative Breast Cancer | Breast Cancer | lab-study | — | Source → |
| LRP1B Protein May Help Predict Response to Ovarian Cancer Treatment | Ovarian Cancer | lab-study | — | Source → |
| Targeting Prion Protein to Overcome Chemotherapy Resistance in Lung Cancer | Lung Cancer | lab-study | — | Source → |
This information is provided for general education only and is not medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making treatment decisions.