Zalcitabine

**Semantic type:** Nucleic Acid, Nucleoside, or Nucleotide|Pharmacologic Substance

**Definition:** A synthetic dideoxynucleoside. After intracellular phosphorylation to its active metabolite, zalcitabine preferentially inhibits the gamma form of DNA polymerase present in tumor cell mitochondria, resulting in the inhibition of tumor cell mitochondrial DNA replication and tumor cell death. (NCI04)

**Synonyms:** - 2',3'-Dideoxycytidine - 2',3'-Dideoxycytidine - Dideoxycytidine - Hivid - ZALCITABINE - ddC