Pemetrexed disodium (ALIMTA), "pemetrexed") is a novel, multi-targeted antifolate that has demonstrated promising clinical activity in a wide variety of solid tumors, including non-small cell lung, breast, mesothelioma, colorectal, pancreatic, gastric, bladder, cervix, and head and neck. Pemetrexed inhibits multiple folate-dependent enzymes involved in both purine and pyrimidine synthesis inclu...

BACKGROUND Erlotinib and pemetrexed are approved single agents for second-line treatment of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and, in combination, have shown synergistic antitumor activity in NSCLC cell lines. We investigated the safety, pharmacokinetics and preliminary efficacy of combined erlotinib-pemetrexed in patients with refractory advanced NSCLC. PATIENTS AND METHODS A nonrandomized,...

Correspondence to Dr Fernando Gálvez-Montosa; fagalmon@ gmail. com Short deSCription of the CliniCal CaSe A 68-year-old man is being treated with cisplatin-pemetrexed in the first line for bone metastatic lung adenocarcinoma. There is partial response and very good tolerance with no grade 3–4 toxicities. After six cycles of doublet therapy, the patient follows on pemetrexed maintenance. Six mon...

Pemetrexed is a new cytotoxic agent that is a standard of care for the second-line treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and in combination with cisplatin in treatment of malignat pleural mesothelioma. It has been studied in numerous phase II and III trials in combination with different drugs or as single agent. Recently, pemetrexed has been approved in combination with cisplatin for ...

Because the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitor erlotinib and the multitargeted antifolate pemetrexed are registered in the treatment of second-line non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), empirical combinations of these drugs are being tested. This study investigated molecular mechanisms underlying their combination in six NSCLC cell lines. Cells were characterized by...

BACKGROUND ROS1 rearrangement is a novel molecular subgroup of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). This study aimed to investigate the efficacy of crizotinib and pemetrexed-based chemotherapy in Chinese NSCLC patients with ROS1 rearrangement. RESULTS A total of 2309 patients received ROS1 fusion detection and 51(2.2%) patients had ROS1 rearrangement. There was no significant difference betwee...

PURPOSE This phase II trial of pemetrexed explored potential correlations between treatment outcome (antitumor activity) and molecular target expression. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN Chemonaïve patients with advanced breast cancer received up to three cycles of pemetrexed 500 mg/m2 (10-minute i.v. infusion) on day 1 of a 21-day cycle, with folic acid and vitamin B12 supplementation. Tumors were surgic...

The reduced folate carrier (RFC) and the proton-coupled folate transporter (PCFT) are ubiquitously expressed in normal and malignant mammalian tissues and in human solid tumor cell lines. This article addresses the extent to which PCFT contributes to transport of pemetrexed and to the activities of this and other antifolates relative to RFC at physiological pH. Either RFC or PCFT cDNA was stabl...

PURPOSE In search for a new drug for intravesical use in superficial urothelial cell carcinoma of the bladder, a pig model is used for pharmacokinetics and toxicity measurements after intravesically administered pemetrexed. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN In the dose escalation phase, two groups of two pigs received 5 and 10 mg/kg pemetrexed intravesically; four groups of three pigs received 15, 20, 25, ...

As the leading cause of cancer death worldwide, lung cancer has the highest incidence and mortality among 27 kinds of cancers (Ferlay et al., 2010). And non small lung cancer (NSCLC) has a proportion of 80%-85% in all lung cancers (Stinchcombe et al., 2009; Yu Z et al., 2014). In the firstand second-line treatment of non small lung cancer, chemotherapy is one of the common methods using chemoth...