trabectedin

Trabectedin is a marine-derived antitumor chemotherapy agent used primarily for the treatment of advanced soft tissue sarcoma, including liposarcoma and leiomyosarcoma, particularly in cases where the disease is unresectable or metastatic and after failure of prior therapies such as doxorubicin or ifosfamide[1][2][3][4][5]. It is also approved in combination with pegylated liposomal doxorubicin for relapsed, platinum-sensitive ovarian cancer[6]. Trabectedin was originally isolated from the Caribbean tunicate Ecteinascidia turbinata but is now produced synthetically[6]. Its mechanism involves binding to the minor groove of DNA and alkylating guanine at the N2 position, which distorts DNA structure and interferes with transcription-coupled nucleotide excision repair pathways. This leads to cell cycle arrest (primarily at G2 phase), apoptosis, inhibition of oncogenic transcription factors, modulation of cytokine/chemokine production by tumor-associated macrophages, and reduction in multidrug resistance protein expression[4][6][8]. Trabectedin also selectively induces apoptosis in monocytes/macrophages within the tumor microenvironment[8].

Brand names

Yondelis

Other names

trabectedinSTS-201STS201STS 201