Denileukin Diftitox

From Anvita Health Wiki

Contents 1 Introduction 2 Indications 3 Dosage 4 Monitor 5 Adverse-effects 6 Mechanism-of-action 7 More General Terms 8 References

Introduction

• Tradename: Ontak.
• Cytotoxic recombinant protein consisting of diphtheria toxin combined with fragments of human interleukin-2 (IL-2).

Indications

• FDA approved for treatment of patients with persistent or recurrent CD25 positive cutaneous T-cell lymphoma
• B-cell lymphoma (in clinical trials)
• Hodgkin's disease (in clinical trials)

Dosage

• 9-18 ug/kg/day
• 6 cycles of treatment (4 months)

Monitor

• testing for CD25 antigen
• complete blood count ( CBC) weekly
• chemistry panel including:

• renal function tests
• liver function tests
• serum albumin

Adverse-effects

• 21% of patients require hospitalization due to adverse effects
• fever
• vascular leak syndrome

• pre-existing cardiovascular disorder & low serum albumin predispose

• gastrointestinal toxicity
• acute hypersensitivity (69%)
• flu-like syndrome (91%)
• infection (48%)
• loss of visual acuity [3]

• usually with loss of color vision
• persistent visual impairment

Mechanism-of-action

• binds to activated lymphocytes & macrophages
• may compromise immune function

More General Terms

• recombinant protein
• antineoplastic agent (chemotherapeutic agent)

References

1. Kaiser Permanente Northern California Regional Drug Formulary, Update 9/99
2. Frankel AE et al, Clin Cancer Res 9:3555, 2003 PMID: [1]
3. FDA Medwatch [2]

denileukin diftitox (Ontak)