Leucovorin (folinic acid)
Leucovorin is not a cancer drug in itself: it rescues normal tissue after high-dose methotrexate and, given with fluorouracil, makes that chemotherapy work better, which is why it appears in FOLFOX, FOLFIRI and FOLFIRINOX.
Overview
Leucovorin (folinic acid, calcium folinate) is a form of folate that cells can use without the enzyme methotrexate blocks. Given after high-dose methotrexate it lets normal bone marrow and gut recover while the drug has already acted on the tumour; given with fluorouracil it increases the drug's binding to its target enzyme thymidylate synthase, an effect that underlies every fluorouracil-based bowel, stomach and pancreatic cancer regimen. Levoleucovorin is the active isomer alone at half the dose. It is a generic medicine on the WHO essential medicines list.
A reduced folate that bypasses dihydrofolate reductase, rescuing normal cells from methotrexate, and that stabilises the fluorouracil-thymidylate synthase complex to make fluorouracil more effective. Connects to Dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) and Thymidylate synthase (TYMS).
1.Leucovorin (folinic acid) slips into a pocket on Dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR).
Trials
topTrials recruiting now
Country and place are remembered in this browser only. A postcode is sent to OpenStreetMap's Nominatim service to find coordinates when you press the button; nothing else leaves your device.
Latest papers
topQuery for this drug: (TITLE:"Leucovorin" OR ABSTRACT:"Leucovorin" OR TITLE:"folinic acid" OR ABSTRACT:"folinic acid" OR TITLE:"Wellcovorin" OR ABSTRACT:"Wellcovorin" OR TITLE:"generic" OR ABSTRACT:"generic" OR TITLE:"Leucovorin Calcium" OR ABSTRACT:"Leucovorin Calcium" OR TITLE:"Folinic acid" OR ABSTRACT:"Folinic acid") AND (cancer OR tumor OR tumour OR oncology OR carcinoma OR lymphoma OR leukemia OR leukaemia OR myeloma OR sarcoma OR melanoma OR glioma). Results are unfiltered search hits about Leucovorin (folinic acid), not a curated reading list.
Similar pages
not linked directly; found by shared links- TreatmentMitomycin C
Shares Cytotoxic chemotherapy, Gastric & gastro-oesophageal junction cancer and the tags gap-fill, generic.
- TreatmentPentostatin
Shares Cytotoxic chemotherapy and the tags gap-fill, generic.
- TreatmentCladribine
Shares Cytotoxic chemotherapy and the tags gap-fill, generic.
- TreatmentVinorelbine
Shares Cytotoxic chemotherapy and the tags gap-fill, generic.
- TreatmentHydroxyurea (hydroxycarbamide)
Shares Cytotoxic chemotherapy and the tags gap-fill, generic.
- TreatmentBendamustine
Shares Cytotoxic chemotherapy and the tags gap-fill, generic.
- TreatmentErlotinib
Shares Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma and the tags gap-fill, generic.
- TreatmentMelphalan (including hepatic delivery system)
Shares Cytotoxic chemotherapy and the tags gap-fill, generic.