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Pharmacology and General Therapeutic Principles of Methotrexate

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Immunopharmacology in Autoimmune Diseases and Transplantation

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Abstract

Methotrexate (MTX) is one of the most potent and widely used drugs in cancer chemotherapy. Synthesized in 1949 by Seeger and co-workers, it soon proved to be strikingly effective in childhood leukemia (Farber et al., 1956). The immunosuppressive potential of MTX was also recognized in the 1950s; this aspect received minimal attention, however, in the following years. During the 1970s, its primary use in nonneoplastic disease was for the treatment of psoriasis, based on the assumption that the rapidly proliferating epidermal cells in psoriatic lesions are more sensitive to the effects of MTX than normal epidermal cells.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Clinical Biochemistry, The National Hospital, University of Oslo, 0027, Oslo 1, Norway

    Liv Endresen

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  1. Liv Endresen
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical Pharmacology, The National Hospital, University of Oslo, N-0027, Oslo 1, Norway

    Hans Erik Rugstad

  2. Institute of Clinical Biochemistry, The National Hospital, University of Oslo, 0027, Oslo 1, Norway

    Liv Endresen

  3. Oslo Sanitetsforening Rheumatism Hospital, N-0172, Oslo 1, Norway

    Øystein Førre

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Endresen, L. (1992). Pharmacology and General Therapeutic Principles of Methotrexate. In: Rugstad, H.E., Endresen, L., Førre, Ø. (eds) Immunopharmacology in Autoimmune Diseases and Transplantation. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-1167-4_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-1167-4_10

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