| Systematic (IUPAC) name | |
|---|---|
| N-(4-{1-[(2,4-diaminopteridin-6-yl)methyl]but-3-yn-1-yl}benzoyl)-L-glutamic acid | |
| Clinical data | |
| Trade names | Folotyn |
| AHFS/Drugs.com | monograph |
| Licence data | US FDA:link |
| Pregnancy cat. | D |
| Legal status | ℞-only (US) |
| Routes | Intravenous |
| Identifiers | |
| CAS number | 146464-95-1 |
| ATC code | L01BA05 |
| PubChem | CID 148121 |
| ChemSpider | 130578 |
| UNII | A8Q8I19Q20 |
| ChEMBL | CHEMBL1201746 |
| Chemical data | |
| Formula | C23H23N7O5 |
| Mol. mass | 477.47 g/mol |
| SMILES | eMolecules & PubChem |
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Pralatrexate (brand name Folotyn) is an anti-cancer therapy.[1] It is the first drug approved as a treatment for patients with relapsed or refractory peripheral T-cell lymphoma, or PTCL[2] — a biologically diverse group of aggressive blood cancers that have a poor prognosis.[2]
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Folotyn was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in September 2009 under the FDA’s accelerated approval,[2] which allows for earlier approval of drugs that meet unmet medical needs.[3] Pralatrexate injection is marketed in the U.S. under the name Folotyn by Allos Therapeutics.[2] Clinical trials are currently underway to explore the potential of Folotyn in other blood related cancers and solid tumors.[4]
Pralatrexate is an antifolate (a folate analogue metabolic inhibitor) designed to accumulate preferentially in cancer cells.[1] Based on preclinical studies, researchers believe that pralatrexate selectively enters cells expressing reduced folate carrier type 1 (RFC-1), a protein that is overexpressed on certain cancer cells compared to normal cells.[1]
Antifolates, such as pralatrexate, are part of a group of compounds known as antimetabolites with structural similarity to naturally occurring molecules involved in DNA synthesis.[5] Cancer cells mistake antimetabolites for normal metabolites[5] allowing the compound to stop or slow critical enzymes involved in DNA synthesis which then triggers cell death.[1] Because of their primary effect on DNA synthesis, the antimetabolites are most effective against actively dividing cells and are largely cell-cycle phase specific.[5]
Research on this class of drugs began in the 1950s at SRI International, where scientists were focused on developing new chemotherapies and antifolates that would be effective against tumor cells.[1]
In the late 1970s, researchers at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center discovered that cancerous cells take in natural folate through a protein identified as plasma membrane transporter (now referred to as “reduced folate carrier type 1” or “RFC-1”). Further research showed that when normal cells evolve into cancerous cells they often overproduce RFC-1 to ensure they get enough folate.[6]
A subsequent scientific collaboration was ultimately formed among SRI International, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and the Southern Research Institute with the intention of developing an antifolate with greater therapeutic selectivity – an agent that could be more effectively internalized into tumors (transported into the cells through RFC-1) and would be more toxic to cancer cells than normal cells.[6]
This collaboration, supported by the National Cancer Institute,[7] led to the identification of pralatrexate in the mid-1990s. Pralatrexate was later licensed to Allos Therapeutics in 2002 for further development.[8]
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