[2] Other severe side effects include allergic reactions and low blood pressure.

It is also sometimes used in a conditioning regimen prior to a bone marrow or blood stem cell transplant.

This results in a double-strand break in the DNA that can have various deleterious effects on the cell, and depletion of topoisomerase II available to relieve further tension.

[6][9] Etoposide is a semisynthetic derivative of podophyllotoxin from the rhizome of the mayapple (or "American mandrake", Podophyllum peltatum).

[citation needed] Etoposide was first synthesized in 1966 and U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval was granted in 1983.

[6] The nickname VP-16 likely comes from a compounding of the last name of one of the chemists who performed early work on the drug (von Wartburg) and podophyllotoxin.

[12] Another scientist who was integral in the development of podophyllotoxin-based chemotherapeutics was the medical pharmacologist Hartmann F.