arginine butyrate + ganciclovir

Arginine butyrate combined with ganciclovir is an investigational combination therapy developed by researchers at Boston Medical Center and Boston University for the treatment of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-associated lymphoid malignancies and lymphoproliferative disorders. Arginine butyrate, a short-chain fatty acid derivative, acts as an epigenetic modulator by inhibiting histone deacetylases (HDACs), which induces the expression of the latent EBV thymidine kinase (TK) gene in tumor cells. Ganciclovir, an antiviral nucleoside analog, is then phosphorylated by the newly expressed viral TK into its active cytotoxic form, which inhibits DNA polymerase and leads to selective apoptosis of the EBV-infected cells. This "virus-targeted" induction therapy has demonstrated significant antitumor activity in Phase I/II clinical trials for refractory EBV-positive conditions, including post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease (PTLD) and various B-cell, T-cell, and NK/T-cell lymphomas.

Other names

arginine butyrate and ganciclovir