Which medication is an example of an antimetabolite drug?
Beside this, what is an antimetabolite drug?
Antimetabolites are drugs that interfere with one or more enzymes or their reactions that are necessary for DNA synthesis. They affect DNA synthesis by acting as a substitute to the actual metabolites that would be used in the normal metabolism (for example antifolates interfere with the use of folic acid).
Consequently, which of the following drugs are antimetabolites?
Included are folic acid antagonists, such as methotrexate; purine antimetabolites, such as 6-mercaptopurine, 6-thioguanine, fludarabine phosphate, pentostatin, and cladribine; and the pyrimidine antimetabolites such as 5-fluorouracil, 5-fluorodeoxyuridine, cytarabine, and gemcitabine.
Antimetabolites can be used in cancer treatment, as they interfere with DNA production and therefore cell division and tumor growth. Because cancer cells spend more time dividing than other cells, inhibiting cell division harms tumor cells more than other cells.