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Old 02-26-2014, 05:14 PM   #3
donocco
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 474
Navitoclax a BCL-2 inhibitor.

Navitoclax is a drug (experimental) undergoing clinical trials. It inhibits BCL-2 which is a protein that inhibits apoptosis or programmed cell death. Bax protein does the opposite as it facilitates apoptosis. In treating cancer you want to increase apoptosis. If you can inhibit the an ti-apoptotic BCL-2 protein, apoptosis increases.

The dosage of Nevitoclax is given for 14 days of a 21 day cycle. The first seven doses are 150mg each and the subsequent doses are 325mg. The main side effects are diarrhea, fatigue, nausea and throbocytopenia or decreased platelets. This is the most important side effect. Navitoclax has been involved in some stage 2 trials with various lymphomas. It looks promising. If it is approved it will probably be combined with various chemo drugs as chemo initiates apoptosis. If Navitoclax proves valuable it could be of use in many different kinds of cancers.

Paul
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