Skip to main content
An official website of the United States government
Government Funding Lapse
Because of a lapse in government funding, the information on this website may not be up to date, transactions submitted via the website may not be processed, and the agency may not be able to respond to inquiries until appropriations are enacted.

The NIH Clinical Center (the research hospital of NIH) is open. For more details about its operating status, please visit cc.nih.gov.

Updates regarding government operating status and resumption of normal operations can be found at opm.gov.

pegylated liposomal irinotecan

A formulation of polyethylene glycol (PEG)-modified liposomes encapsulating the semisynthetic derivative of camptothecin irinotecan, with antineoplastic activity. As a prodrug, irinotecan is converted to the biologically active metabolite 7-ethyl-10-hydroxy-camptothecin (SN-38) by a carboxylesterase-converting enzyme. In turn, SN-38 inhibits topoisomerase I activity by stabilizing the cleavable complex of topoisomerase I and DNA, resulting in DNA breaks. This results in an inhibition of DNA replication and an induction of apoptosis. Pegylated liposomal delivery of irinotecan improves drug penetration into tumors and decreases drug clearance, thereby increasing the duration of exposure while lowering systemic toxicity.
Check for active clinical trials using this agentView this agent in the NCI Thesaurus
Code name:IHL-305
Search NCI's Drug Dictionary
Please enter up to 30 characters for your search