Pentostatin (or deoxycoformycin, trade name Nipent, manufactured by SuperGen) is an anticancer

chemotherapeutic Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs ( chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemothera ...

drug.

Mechanism

It is classified as a purine analog, which is a type of

antimetabolite An antimetabolite is a chemical that inhibits the use of a metabolite, which is another chemical that is part of normal metabolism. Such substances are often similar in structure to the metabolite that they interfere with, such as the antifolate ...

. It mimics the

nucleoside Nucleosides are glycosylamines that can be thought of as nucleotides without a phosphate group. A nucleoside consists simply of a nucleobase (also termed a nitrogenous base) and a five-carbon sugar (ribose or 2'-deoxyribose) whereas a nucleoti ...

adenosine and thus inhibits the enzyme

adenosine deaminase Adenosine deaminase (also known as adenosine aminohydrolase, or ADA) is an enzyme () involved in purine metabolism. It is needed for the breakdown of adenosine from food and for the turnover of nucleic acids in tissues. Its primary function ...

, interfering with the cell's ability to process DNA.

Cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

cells generally divide more often than healthy cells; DNA is highly involved in cell division ( mitosis) and drugs which target DNA-related processes are therefore more toxic to cancer cells than healthy cells.

Uses

Pentostatin is used to treat

hairy cell leukemia Hairy cell leukemia is an uncommon hematological malignancy characterized by an accumulation of abnormal B lymphocytes. It is usually classified as a subtype of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Hairy cell leukemia makes up about 2% of all leu ...

. It is given by intravenous infusion once every two weeks for three to six months. Additionally, pentostatin has been used to treat steroid-refractory acute and chronic graft-versus-host disease. Pentostatin is also used in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) patients who have relapsed.

References

Nucleosides Purine antagonists Adenosine deaminase inhibitors {{antineoplastic-drug-stub