Fludarabine

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Fludarabine
Fludarabine phosphate.svg
Systematic (IUPAC) name
[(2R,3R,4S,5R)-5-(6-amino-2-fluoro-purin-9-yl)- 3,4-dihydroxy-oxolan-2-yl]methoxyphosphonic acid
Clinical data
Trade names Fludara
AHFS/Drugs.com monograph
MedlinePlus a692003
Pregnancy
category
  • D
Legal status
  • AU: S4 (Prescription only)
  • UK: POM (Prescription only)
Routes of
administration
Intravenous, oral
Pharmacokinetic data
Bioavailability 55%
Protein binding 19 to 29%
Biological half-life 20 hours
Excretion Renal
Identifiers
CAS Number 75607-67-9 YesY
ATC code L01BB05 (WHO)
PubChem CID: 657237
IUPHAR/BPS 4802
DrugBank DB01073 YesY
ChemSpider 571392 YesY
UNII P2K93U8740 YesY
KEGG D01907 YesY
ChEBI CHEBI:63599 N
ChEMBL CHEMBL1568 YesY
Chemical data
Formula C10H13FN5O7P
Molecular mass 365.212 g/mol
  • Fc1nc(c2ncn(c2n1)[C@@H]3O[C@@H]([C@@H](O)[C@@H]3O)CO)N
  • InChI=1S/C10H12FN5O4/c11-10-14-7(12)4-8(15-10)16(2-13-4)9-6(19)5(18)3(1-17)20-9/h2-3,5-6,9,17-19H,1H2,(H2,12,14,15)/t3-,5-,6+,9-/m1/s1 YesY
  • Key:HBUBKKRHXORPQB-FJFJXFQQSA-N YesY
 NYesY (what is this?)  (verify)

Fludarabine or fludarabine phosphate (Fludara) is a chemotherapy drug used in the treatment of hematological malignancies (cancers of blood cells such as leukemias and lymphomas). It is a purine analog, which interferes with DNA synthesis.

It is on the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines, the most important medications needed in a basic health system.[1]

Medical uses

Fludarabine is highly effective in the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia, producing higher response rates than alkylating agents such as chlorambucil alone.[2] Fludarabine is used in various combinations with cyclophosphamide, mitoxantrone, dexamethasone and rituximab in the treatment of indolent non-Hodgkins lymphomas. As part of the FLAG regimen, fludarabine is used together with cytarabine and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor in the treatment of acute myeloid leukaemia. Because of its immunosuppressive effects, fludarabine is also used in some conditioning regimens prior to allogeneic stem cell transplant.

Side effects

Fludarabine is associated with profound lymphopenia, and as a consequence, increases the risk of opportunistic infections significantly. Patients who have been treated with fludarabine will usually be asked to take co-trimoxazole or to use monthly nebulised pentamidine to prevent Pneumocystis jiroveci pneumonia. The profound lymphopenia caused by fludarabine renders patients susceptible to transfusion-associated graft versus host disease, an oftentimes fatal complication of blood transfusion. For this reason, all patients who have ever received fludarabine should only be given irradiated blood components.

Fludarabine causes anemia, thrombocytopenia and neutropenia, requiring regular blood count monitoring. Some patients require blood and platelet transfusion, or G-CSF injections to boost neutrophil counts.

Fludarabine is associated with the development of severe autoimmune hemolytic anemia in a proportion of patients.[3]

Difficulties are often encountered when harvesting peripheral blood stem cells from patients previously treated with fludarabine.[4]

Pharmacology

Fludarabine is a purine analog, and can be given both orally and intravenously. Fludarabine inhibits DNA synthesis by interfering with ribonucleotide reductase and DNA polymerase. It is active against both dividing and resting cells. Being phosphorylated, fludarabine is ionized at physiologic pH and is effectually trapped in blood. This provides some level of specificity for blood cells, both cancerous and healthy.

History

Fludarabine was produced by John Montgomery and Kathleen Hewson of the Southern Research Institute in 1968.[5] Their previous work involved 2-fluoroadenosine, which was unsafe for use in humans; the change to this arabinose analogue was inspired by the success of vidarabine.[5]

References

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  2. Rai KR et al. Fludarabine compared with chlorambucil as primary therapy for chronic lymphocytic leukemia. N Engl J Med 2000;343:1750-7. doi:10.1056/NEJM200012143432402 PMID 11114313
  3. Gonzalez H et al. Severe autoimmune hemolytic anemia in eight patients treated with fludarabine. Hematol Cell Ther. 1998;40:113-8. PMID 9698219
  4. Tournilhac O et al. Impact of frontline fludarabine and cyclophosphamide combined treatment on peripheral blood stem cell mobilization in B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Blood 2004;103:363-5. PMID 12969985
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External links