Pharmacologic Substance
oblimersen sodium Audio
[ oh-blih-mer-sen soh-dee-um ]
Definitions related to oblimersen sodium:
  • A substance being studied in the treatment of cancer. It may kill cancer cells by blocking the production of a protein that makes cancer cells live longer and by making them more sensitive to anticancer drugs. It is a type of antisense oligodeoxyribonucleotide.
    NCI Dictionary of Cancer Terms
    U.S. National Cancer Institute, 2021
  • The sodium salt of a phosphorothioate antisense oligonucleotide targeted to the initiation codon region of mRNA for the anti-apoptotic gene Bcl-2. Oblimersen inhibits Bcl-2 mRNA translation, which may result in decreased expression of the Bcl-2 protein and tumor cell apoptosis. This agent may enhance the efficacy of standard cytotoxic chemotherapy. The anti-apoptotic bcl-2 protein is an integral outer mitochondrial membrane protein (OMMP) that is overexpressed in some cancer cell types and is linked to tumor drug resistance.
    NCI Thesaurus
    U.S. National Cancer Institute, 2021
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