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Thiopurines

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Pharmacogenomic Testing in Current Clinical Practice

Part of the book series: Molecular and Translational Medicine ((MOLEMED))

Abstract

Thiopurines are antimetabolite prodrugs used clinically as antineoplastics and as immunosuppressants. The first clinically effective thiopurines, thioguanine and mercaptopurine, were developed in the 1950s by Wellcome Research Laboratory scientists Gertrude Elion and George Hitchings [1]. After the approval of mercaptopurine in 1953 by FDA for the treatment of leukemia, it was discovered that when it was combined with other anticancer agents, childhood leukemia could be cured. The development of these compounds contributed to Elion and Hitchings being awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine in 1988. Today, there are three thiopurine drugs (mercaptopurine, thioguanine, and azathioprine) (Fig. 7.) that are widely used in the treatment of leukemia, rheumatic diseases, inflammatory bowel disease, and solid organ transplant.

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Acknowledgments

Supported by NCI grant CA 21765 and the NIH/NIGMS Pharmacogenetics Research Network and Database (U01 GM61393, and by the American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities (ALSAC).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, TN, USA

    Mary V. Relling

  2. University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN, USA

    Mary V. Relling

Authors
  1. Terreia S. Jones
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  2. Mary V. Relling
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Correspondence to Mary V. Relling .

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  1. San Francisco General Hospital, Clinical Chemistry Lab., University of California, San Francisco, 1001 Potrero Ave., San Francisco, 94110, California, USA

    Alan H. B. Wu

  2. Department of Pathology, Clinical Pharmacogenomics Program, University of Chicago, S. Maryland Ave. 5841, Chicago, 60637, Illinois, USA

    Kiang-Teck J. Yeo

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© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC

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Jones, T.S., Relling, M.V. (2011). Thiopurines. In: Wu, A., Yeo, KT. (eds) Pharmacogenomic Testing in Current Clinical Practice. Molecular and Translational Medicine. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-60761-283-4_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-60761-283-4_7

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  • Publisher Name: Humana Press

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-60761-282-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-60761-283-4

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