Talk:Methotrexate

Cambridgeshire incident

I removed the link to the Cambridgeshire incident. Close reading of the document linked reveals that there is no support for the claims made. In that incident, a woman (who normally received 17.5 mg of MTX per week) was put on 10mg a day by her general practicioner, leading to severe complications and death. This has nothing to do with the weekly dosing! The toxicity was due to the 70mg weekly dose!!! JFW | T@lk 11:57, 31 May 2004 (UTC)

Naming

I want to bring to subject that aminopterin isnt the same as methotrexate. The brand name of methotrexate is Amethopterin. Aminopterin is Purinethol, and was used as a very toxic chemotherapeuticum for the treatment of acute leukemia. I know this because im working on a medicall article, in which we discuss old chemotherapeutica.

Thanks, I'll correct it. Your work sounds very interesting. Would you mind also editing the relevant Wikipedia articles (e.g. nitrogen mustard)? You seem to have the expertise to say something useful; classical references are also extremely welcome! JFW | T@lk 17:49, 14 March 2006 (UTC)

And on the subject of naming, a quick look through several editions of Martindale leads me to think that "amethopterin" is a deprecated synonym for methotrexate derived from its chemical name, rather than a trade name. I'll update the main page to reflect this. -Techelf 09:09, 18 April 2006 (UTC)

Actually, Aminopterin is not Purinethol. Purinethol is the trade name for 6-mercaptopurine, a structurally unrelated antimetabolite also used in the therapy of patients with leukemia. Aminopterin (4-aminopteroic acid) is the antifolate first used by Farber to induce remissions among patients with leukemia. Although more potent than methotrexate, it was replaced by methotrexate in the 1950s, due to unpredictable toxicity. Now in a more pure preparation, aminopterin is back in clinical trials for patients with leukemia.

Above posted by User:130.219.235.253 15 May 2006

Methotrexate and Cancer Treatment (Question)

Hi, just a quick question about the common use of Methotrexate in various types of cancer treatment... what is the purpose of inhibiting the metabolism of Folic Acid? By that I mean, what is the reasoning? -- Is it to somewhat control the cancerous cell replications?

Thanks

— Preceding unsigned comment added by 142.145.80.43 (talk • contribs) 15:38, 10 August 2006

Patent Number

Does anybody know what the original US patent number is for methotrexate?

Why is it necessary to take folic acid with methotrexate??

Methotrexate inhibits Folic Acid reductase which is responsible for the conversion of Folic Acid to tetrahydrofolic acid. At two stages in the biosynthesis of ppurins and at one stage in the synthesis of Pyrimidines, one-carbon transfer reactions occur which require specific coenzymes synthesized in the cell from tetrahydrofolic acid. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 194.170.95.77 (talk) 11:40, 4 February 2007 (UTC).

Folic acid versus folate

This article starts by talking about Methotrexate and folic acid, but then slips in a reference to folate with no explanation. It would be good if folate were explained as (copied from the Folic Acid article) the anion version of folic acid. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Dtgriscom (talk • contribs) 03:34, 8 February 2007 (UTC).

it use to treat choriocarcinoma —Preceding unsigned comment added by 41.252.63.21 (talk) 14:04, 27 July 2008 (UTC)

Adverse reactions can be deadly.

My mother took this drug for psoriasis, and after a short term on it (a few months) developed a persistent cough, which grew bad enough that they put her in a medically-induced coma, and ultimately determined that the lung damage was extensive enough for no hope of recovery and the decision was made to take her off life support. While the adverse reactions do include mention of lung issues, I'm not sure they are clear enough about how severe those reactions can be. --198.162.133.115 (talk) 20:04, 11 August 2008 (UTC)