| umls-concept:C0717670 | skos:definition | NCI: A drug used to treat cutaneous T-cell lymphoma that can bind the cytokine IL-2 and that has not responded to other treatment. It is also being studied in the treatment of other types of cancer. Ontak is made by combining a part of IL-2 with a bacterial toxin. The IL-2 part of the drug attaches to the cancer cells and then the toxin kills the cells. Ontak is a type of immunotoxin and a type of fusion toxin.,PDQ: A cytotoxic recombinant protein consisting of interleukin-2 (IL-2) protein sequences fused to diphtheria toxin. The IL-2 protein sequence moiety of denileukin difitox directs the cytocidal action of diphtheria toxin to cells that express IL-2 receptors. After the toxin moiety is internalized into target IL-2 receptor-expressing cells, its catalytic domain catalyzes the transfer of the ADP-ribose moiety of NAD to a posttranslationally modified histidine residue of elongation factor 2 (EF-2), called diphthamine. This covalent modification inactivates EF-2 and disrupts polypeptide chain elongation, r | lld:umls |
