A REVIEW ON CANCER AND AN OVERVIEW OF METHOTREXATE DRUG

Cancer is a general term applied to a series of malignant diseases that may affect different parts of the body. Cancer is a disease which occurs when changes in a group of normal cells within the body lead to uncontrolled growth causing a lump called a tumor; this is true of all cancers except leukemia (cancer of the blood). When cancer spreads to other parts of the body, this is called metastasis. Methotrexate (MTX) is a folate antimetabolite used as an anticancer agent in the treatment of head and neck cancer, lung cancer, breast cancer. The doses and frequency of administration of MTX depend on its toxicity to hematopoietic tissues and buccal or gastrointestinal mucosa, drug resistance, leucopenia, and nephrotoxicity and limits its chemotherapeutic applications. Methotrexate is an antineoplastic antimetabolite. Anti-metabolites masquerade as purine or pyrimidine – which become the building blocks of DNA. They prevent these substances from becoming incorporated into DNA during the “S” phase (of the cell cycle), stopping normal development and division. Methotrexate is also indicated in the management of severe, active, classical, or definite rheumatoid arthritis. This review article is focused on cancer, its type, classification of anticancer drug and also discussed on pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamics of methotrexate and its importance in the pharmacy field.