In English | En español
Questions About Cancer? 1-800-4-CANCER

NCI Drug Dictionary


fazarabine 
An orally-active pyrimidine analogue of an aza-substituted cytidine in which the ribose moiety is replaced by an arabinose sugar. Similar in action to cytarabine, fazarabine is phosphorylated by deoxycytidine kinase to a triphosphate form which competes with thymidine for incorporation into DNA; its incorporation into DNA inhibits DNA synthesis, resulting in tumor cell death and tumor necrosis. The presence of deoxycytidine kinase in a tumor is a determinant of tumor sensitivity to this drug. Check for active clinical trials or closed clinical trials using this agent. (NCI Thesaurus)
Synonym:Kymarabine
Abbreviations:Ara AC
ARA-AC
Chemical structures:1,3, 5-triazin-2(1H)-one, 4-Amino-1-beta-D- arabinofuranosyl- (9CI)
1-beta-D-arabinofuranosyl-5-azacytosine