HOW METHOTREATE WORK?
HOW METHOTREXATE WORKS? Developed over 70 years ago as an anti-folate chemotherapy agent, methotrexate (MTX) is a WHO ‘essential medicine’ that is now widely employed as a first-line treatment in auto-immune, inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriasis, and Crone's disease. When used for these diseases patients typically take a once-weekly low-dose of MTX — a therapy that provides effective inflammatory control to tens of millions of people worldwide. MTX is a methyl derivative of aminopterin and acts as an immunosuppressant. It is an analog of folic acid and inhibits dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR). DHFR is an essential enzyme for the synthesis of nucleotides. Folic acid from the diet is converted into dihydrofolate (DHF) and it is again converted into tetrahydrofolate (THF) by the enzyme DHFR. THF then converts into 5,10-methyl tetrahydrofolate (5,10 methyl THF); with the help of the enzyme thymidy