{"entity":{"id":"calicheamicin","kind":"term","name":"Calicheamicin","aka":["ozogamicin payload","N-acetyl gamma calicheamicin","ozogamicin (N-acetyl-γ-calicheamicin)"],"tldr":"Calicheamicin is an enediyne antibiotic used as an antibody-drug conjugate payload: it binds the minor groove of DNA and cuts both strands at picomolar concentrations, about a thousand times more cytotoxic than conventional chemotherapy. That is why it is only given attached to an antibody (Mylotarg, Besponsa), and why liver toxicity, including veno-occlusive disease, is its defining risk.","summary":"Calicheamicin binds the minor groove and, once its enediyne core rearranges, cuts both strands of DNA. It is released by an acid-cleavable hydrazone linker in the lysosome. Gemtuzumab ozogamicin (CD33, acute myeloid leukaemia) and inotuzumab ozogamicin (CD22, acute lymphoblastic leukaemia) carry it. Hepatotoxicity, including veno-occlusive disease especially around stem-cell transplant, is the characteristic risk.","asOf":"2026-09-09","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calicheamicin","links":[{"label":"Wikipedia","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calicheamicin"}],"tags":[],"related":[],"cancers":[],"sections":[],"technologies":["adc"],"targets":[],"drugs":["gemtuzumab-ozogamicin"],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":["payload","dna-cleaver-payloads"],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"category":"ADC chemistry"},"route":"/terms/calicheamicin/","neighbours":{"technology":[{"id":"adc","kind":"technology","name":"Antibody-drug conjugate (ADC)","route":"/technologies/adc/"}],"drug":[{"id":"gemtuzumab-ozogamicin","kind":"drug","name":"Gemtuzumab ozogamicin","route":"/drugs/gemtuzumab-ozogamicin/"}],"term":[{"id":"hydrazone","kind":"term","name":"Acid-labile hydrazone (AcBut)","route":"/terms/hydrazone/"},{"id":"dna-cleaver-payloads","kind":"term","name":"DNA cleaver payloads (enediynes)","route":"/terms/dna-cleaver-payloads/"},{"id":"payload","kind":"term","name":"Payload (ADC)","route":"/terms/payload/"}]}}