Is Methotrexate considered chemo?

[QUOTE=mceagle]Many thanks for information,…Just as an aside, is MTX referred to as an immunosuppressant therapy or chemo – or are they one and the same thing.Tim[/QUOTE]

Tell ya’ what- I dunno. How’s this quote: ” Methotrexate say: meth-oh-TREX-ate Methotrexate is a chemotherapy drug used to treat leukemia, lymphomas, and osteosarcoma. It is also used in the treatment of AIDS and rheumatoid arthritis, which is of interest because you can find information on this drug on the Web at sites relevant to these diseases as well as cancer sites.”

I couldn’t say if the previous site ([url]http://www.acor.org/ped-onc/treatment/methotrexate/methotrx.html[/url]) is particularly trustworthy or not since it is my first visit to it.

On the other hand, I do take note of publications within the PubMed.gov universe. [url]http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18493241[/url] which says, among other things:

“In chronic autoimmune conditions such as myasthenia gravis (MG), immunosuppression–usually long-term–is often necessary. The mechanisms of action of immunosuppressant drugs in MG fall into three main categories: inhibition of the cell cycle (azathioprine, cyclophosphamide, methotrexate and mycophenolate mofetil), immunosuppression of T cells (steroids, ciclosporin and tacrolimus), and B-cell depletion (rituximab).”

The short answer, then is Yes, MTX is immunosupression via chemo therapy. So, as you queried- they are one and the same thing.