Vorinostat or suberoyl

Suberic acid

Suberic acid, also octanedioic acid, is a dicarboxylic acid, with formula C6H122....

anilide

Aniline

Aniline, phenylamine or aminobenzene is an organic compound with the formula C6H5NH2. Consisting of a phenyl group attached to an amino group, aniline is the prototypical aromatic amine. Being a precursor to many industrial chemicals, its main use is in the manufacture of precursors to polyurethane...

 hydroxamic acid

Hydroxamic acid

A hydroxamic acid is a class of chemical compounds sharing the same functional group in which an hydroxylamine is inserted into a carboxylic acid. Its general structure is R-CO-NH-OH, with an R as an organic residue, a CO as a carbonyl group, and a hydroxylamine as NH2-OH. They are used as metal...

 (SAHA) is a member of a larger class of compounds that inhibit histone deacetylase

Histone deacetylase

Histone deacetylases are a class of enzymes that remove acetyl groups from an ε-N-acetyl lysine amino acid on a histone. This is important because DNA is wrapped around histones, and DNA expression is regulated by acetylation and de-acetylation. Its action is opposite to that of histone...

s (HDAC). Histone deacetylase inhibitor

Histone deacetylase inhibitor

Histone deacetylase inhibitors are a class of compounds that interfere with the function of histone deacetylase.HDIs have a long history of use in psychiatry and neurology as mood stabilzers and anti-epileptics...

s (HDI) have a broad spectrum of epigenetic activities.

Vorinostat is marketed under the name Zolinza for the treatment of cutaneous T cell lymphoma

Cutaneous T Cell lymphoma

Cutaneous T cell lymphoma is a class of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, which is a type of cancer of the immune system. Unlike most non-Hodgkin's lymphomas , CTCL is caused by a mutation of T cells. The malignant T cells in the body initially migrate to the skin, causing various lesions to appear...

 (CTCL) when the disease persists, gets worse, or comes back during or after treatment with other medicines.

Approvals and indications

Vorinostat was the first histone deacetylase inhibitor

Histone deacetylase inhibitor

Histone deacetylase inhibitors are a class of compounds that interfere with the function of histone deacetylase.HDIs have a long history of use in psychiatry and neurology as mood stabilzers and anti-epileptics...

 approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration

Food and Drug Administration

The Food and Drug Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, one of the United States federal executive departments...

 (FDA) for the treatment of CTCL on October 6, 2006. It is manufactured by Patheon, Inc.

Patheon

Patheon Inc. is a contract pharmaceutical company, based in Ontario, Canada. The company undertakes development, manufacturing and packaging of pharmaceutical products, both prescription and over the counter , for a plethora of pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies, at sites...

, in Mississauga, Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, for Merck & Co., Inc., White House Station, New Jersey

White House Station, New Jersey

Whitehouse Station is a census-designated place and unincorporated area located within Readington Township, in Hunterdon County, New Jersey. At the United States 2000 Census, the CDP population was 2,089. Whitehouse Station takes its name from Whitehouse and Abraham Van Horn's 18th Century Tavern...

.

Clinical trials

Vorinostat has also been used to treat Sézary syndrome, another type of lymphoma closely related to CTCL.

A recent study suggested that vorinostat also possesses some activity against recurrent glioblastoma multiforme

Glioblastoma multiforme

Glioblastoma multiforme is the most common and most aggressive malignant primary brain tumor in humans, involving glial cells and accounting for 52% of all functional tissue brain tumor cases and 20% of all intracranial tumors. Despite being the most prevalent form of primary brain tumor, GBMs...

, resulting in a median overall survival of 5.7 months (compared to 4 - 4.4 months in earlier studies). Further brain tumor trials are planned in which vorinostat will be combined with other drugs.

Including vorinostat in treatment of advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) showed improved response rates and increased median progression free survival and overall survival (although the survival improvements were not significant at the P=0.05 level).

Preclinical investigations

Vorinostat is an interesting target for scientists interested in eradicating HIV

HIV

Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...

from infected persons. Vorinostat was recently shown to have both in vitro and in vivo effects against latently HIV infected T-Cells.