4-Amino-1-[3,3-difluoro-4-hydroxy-5-(hydroxymethyl)-2-oxolanyl]-2-pyrimidinone

DescriptionGemcitabine (2’,2’-difluorodeoxycytidine; dFdCyd) is a novel deoxycytidine analogue with both structural and metabolic similarities to cytarabine. It has a broad spectrum of antitumor activity in preclinical murine leukemia and solid tumor models. This drug requires intracellular phosphorylation that results in the accumulation of difluorodeoxycytidine triphosphate (dFdCTP). The dFdCTP competes with deoxycytidine triphosphate (dCTP) for incorporation into DNA, which in turn inhibits DNA synthesis and terminates DNA chain elongation. In addition, this drug reduces intracellular deoxynucleoside triphosphate pools, presumably through the inhibition of ribonucleotide reductase. Gemcitabine is used alone or with other treatments/medications to treat certain types of cancer (including breast cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, ovarian cancer, pancreatic cancer, bladder cancer, bone cancer, Ewing’s sarcoma, mesenchymal chondrosarcoma osteosarcoma, dedifferentiated chondrosarcoma, head and neck cancers-cancer of the nasopharynx, hepatobiliary cancers including gallbladder cancer, Hodgkin lymphoma, kidney cancer, malignant pleural mesothelioma, non Hodgkin lymphoma, non-melanoma skin cancer – dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans (DFSP), occult primary, small cell lung cancer, soft tissue sarcoma, testicular cancer, thymic malignancies, uterine malignancies). It is a chemotherapy drug that works by slowing or stopping the growth of cancer cells. One commercial product of gemcitabine is Gemzar, which is supplied in a sterile form for intravenous use only.

DescriptionGemcitabine is an anticancer nucleoside analog that inhibits the growth of HL-60 promyelocytic leukemia cells with an LC50 value of 40 nM. It inhibits the growth of MX-1 mammary, CX-1, HC-1, GC3, and VRC5 colon, LX-1, Calu-6, and NCI-H460 lung, and HS766T, PaCa-2, PANC-1, and BxPC-3 pancreatic cancer tumors in mouse xenograft models (45-93% inhibition). Gemcitabine is a prodrug that is metabolized to a diphosphate and triphosphate form in cells. The triphosphate form is incorporated into DNA which induces masked chain termination and cell death. By specifically inhibiting growth arrest and DNA damage inducible protein 45 a (Gadd45a), a key mediator of active DNA demethylation, gemcitabine, at concentrations ranging from 34 to 134 nM, inhibits repair-mediated DNA demethylation in a methylation-sensitive reporter assay. Gemcitabine also has broad antiretroviral activity, decreasing MuLV cell infectivity, a murine AIDS model, in cell culture (EC50 = ~1.5 nM) and inhibits the progression of murine AIDS in vivo at a dose of 1-2 mg/kg per day.