Fazarabine

**Semantic type:** Organic Chemical|Pharmacologic Substance

**Definition:** 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. (NCI04)

**Synonyms:** - 1,3, 5-Triazin-2(1H)-one, 4-Amino-1-beta-D- arabinofuranosyl- (9CI) - 1,3, 5-Triazin-2(1H)-one, 4-amino-1-.beta.-D- arabinofuranosyl- (9CI) - 1-.beta.-D-Arabinofuranosyl-5-azacytosine - 1-Beta-D-arabinofuranosyl-5-azacytosine - Ara AC - Ara AC - FAZARABINE - Kymarabine - Kymarabine - ara-AC - fazarabine