Due to all the questions I received following my post yesterday concerning my success with 2CdA treatments for my relapsed MCL, I decided to try to answer most of the questions in one post. Also, I am a newbie on the computer and don't know how to cut and paste, so please bear with me. 2CdA, also commonly known as cladribine and leustatin, has the long name of 2-Chlorodeoxyadenosine. It is a chemo drug belonging to a group called antimetabolites that are used to interfere with the growth of cancer cells, which are eventually destroyed. The growth of normal body cells may also be affected .
Antimetabolites kill resting as well as dividing cells.
There are three drawbacks to the use of 2-CdA which I found in my research and a person should discuss with their onc. First, using a purine analog like 2-CdA may make stem cell harvesting more difficult. And three, like platinum-based agents, uses of these agents may make you ineligible for certain clinical trials. Each I-V took approximately one and a half hours to administer. Each five-day course was considered to be one cycle.