Effects of chemotherapeutic agent bendamustine for nonhodgkin lymphoma on spermatogenesis in mice

Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) is one of the most common cancers affecting men of reproductive age. The high response rate of bendamustine as first-line reatment for NHL, coupled with young age of patients, makes elucidation of the impact of treatment on male reproduction important. Our aim was to determine the effects of bendamustine on male reproduction by animal model. Male mice were treated with bendamustine (40 mg/kg) through tail vein injection while cisplatin was given as a standard (3 mg/kg) through intraperitoneal injection. After 3 weeks, bendamustine induced weight loss and sperm morphology abnormalities were compared to the control. Additionally, sperm with folded tails were the most frequent abnormality in bendamustine-treated mice. But the mechanism of sperm abnormality induced by bendamustine remains to bevelucidated. These results indicate bendamustine may affect sprmatozoa of patients who have been treated for NHL.