Properties

Safety Information

Description

Trabectedin is a marine natural product derived from the tunicate Ecteinascidia turbinate. With its demonstrated in vitro and in vivo activity against a range of solid tumor cell lines, human xenografts and tumor explants, this antineoplastic agent has been developed and launched for the treatment of advanced STS after failure of first-line therapy with anthracyclines or ifosfamide or in patients who are unsuited to receive these agents. Its proposed mechanism of action involves binding to the N2 position of guanine in the minor groove demonstrating a preference for sequences containing 5′-PuGC and 5′-PyGG motifs. Subsequent alkylation of DNA, via an iminium intermediate generated from an intra-molecular acid-catalyzed activation and dehydration of the carbinolamine, induces a curvature of the DNA toward the major groove that ultimately disrupts the binding of transcription factors involved in cell proliferation. Evaluation of trabectedin against the National Cancer Institute’s human in vitro cell line panel, including melanoma, non-small-cell lung, ovarian, renal, prostate, and breast cancer, demonstrated potencies ranging from 1 pM to 10 nM.