Pegaspargase, sold under the brand name Oncaspar, is a

medication A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy ( pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field and ...

used in the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Often it is used together with

anthracycline Anthracyclines are a class of drugs used in cancer chemotherapy that are extracted from ''Streptomyces'' bacterium. These compounds are used to treat many cancers, including leukemias, lymphomas, breast, stomach, uterine, ovarian, bladder canc ...

vincristine Vincristine, also known as leurocristine and marketed under the brand name Oncovin among others, is a chemotherapy medication used to treat a number of types of cancer. This includes acute lymphocytic leukemia, acute myeloid leukemia, Hodgkin's ...

, and corticosteroids (for example

prednisone Prednisone is a glucocorticoid medication mostly used to suppress the immune system and decrease inflammation in conditions such as asthma, COPD, and rheumatologic diseases. It is also used to treat high blood calcium due to cancer and ad ...

and

dexamethasone Dexamethasone is a glucocorticoid medication used to treat rheumatic problems, a number of skin diseases, severe allergies, asthma, chronic obstructive lung disease, croup, brain swelling, eye pain following eye surgery, superior vena ...

). Pegaspargase can be administered either via an

intravenous infusion Intravenous therapy (abbreviated as IV therapy) is a medical technique that administers fluids, medications and nutrients directly into a person's vein. The intravenous route of administration is commonly used for rehydration or to provide nutrie ...

or a intramuscular injection. Known side effects include

allergic reactions Allergies, also known as allergic diseases, refer a number of conditions caused by the hypersensitivity of the immune system to typically harmless substances in the environment. These diseases include hay fever, food allergies, atopic derm ...

, coagulopathy, high blood sugar, affected liver function, pancreas inflammation, and blood clots in the brain. There is no data regarding the usage of pegaspargase during pregnancy. Therefor caution should be observed and pegaspargase should only be used during pregnancy when the benefits outweigh the possible risks. Pegaspargase is a modified version of the

enzyme Enzymes () are proteins that act as biological catalysts by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different molecules known as products ...

asparaginase Asparaginase is an enzyme that is used as a medication and in food manufacturing. As a medication, L-asparaginase is used to treat acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and lymphoblastic lymphoma (LBL). It is given by injection into a vein, muscl ...

which has undergone

PEGylation PEGylation (or pegylation) is the process of both covalent and non-covalent attachment or amalgamation of polyethylene glycol (PEG, in pharmacy called macrogol) polymer chains to molecules and macrostructures, such as a drug, therapeutic protein ...

. It works by breaking down the

amino acid Amino acids are organic compounds that contain both amino and carboxylic acid functional groups. Although hundreds of amino acids exist in nature, by far the most important are the alpha-amino acids, which comprise proteins. Only 22 alpha a ...

asparagine Asparagine (symbol Asn or N) is an α-amino acid that is used in the biosynthesis of proteins. It contains an α-amino group (which is in the protonated −NH form under biological conditions), an α-carboxylic acid group (which is in the depro ...

that are circulating in the bloodstream. The circulating asparagine is essential for the cancer cells to enable growth since they can't produce their own, in contrast to normal cells. The normal cells are therefor less affected by pegaspargase. Pegaspargase was approved for medical use in the United States in 1994. It is on the

World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines The WHO Model List of Essential Medicines (aka Essential Medicines List or EML), published by the World Health Organization (WHO), contains the medications considered to be most effective and safe to meet the most important needs in a health s ...

. It is made by Sigma-Tau.

References

External links

* Antineoplastic drugs Takeda Pharmaceutical Company brands World Health Organization essential medicines Wikipedia medicine articles ready to translate {{antineoplastic-drug-stub