Azathioprine

Azathioprine

Azathioprine is a medication that is classified as an immunosuppressant agent. It is commonly used in the treatment of inflammatory disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, sarcoidosis, and bullous pemphigoid. Additionally, it is used as an adjunct immunosuppressant for patients undergoing renal transplantation. The chemical formula for azathioprine is 6-[(1-methyl-4-nitro-1H-imidazol-5-yl)sulfanyl]-7H-purine.From: Drug-induced and Iatrogenic Respiratory Disease [2010], Overview of biological mechanisms of human carcinogens [2019]

Mechanisms of Different Anticancer Drugs

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Published in Anjana Pandey, Saumya Srivastava, Recent Advances in Cancer Diagnostics and Therapy, 2022

Anjana Pandey, Saumya Srivastava

Azathioprine is an extensively used antimetabolite of a purine base, 6-Mercaptopurine (Polifka and Friedman, 2002), after metabolizing into the liver, converts in this form (Choughule et al., 2014). Therefore, it is also considered a dormant form of 6-Mercaptopurine. Azathioprine is broadly used as an immunosuppressive drug (Diehl et al., 2017). It is advantageous over 6-Mercaptopurine due to its ease of administration and pharmacological properties.

Pneumonitis induced by non-cytotoxic agents

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Published in Philippe Camus, Edward C Rosenow, Drug-induced and Iatrogenic Respiratory Disease, 2010

Umair A Gauhar, J Allen D Cooper

Azathioprine is an immunosuppressant agent used in organ transplantation and inflammatory disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, sarcoidosis and bullous pemphigoid. Several cases of associated interstitial pneumonitis have been described in renal transplant patients.138,139

Overview of biological mechanisms of human carcinogens

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Journal Information

Published in Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Part B, 2019

Nicholas Birkett, Mustafa Al-Zoughool, Michael Bird, Robert A. Baan, Jan Zielinski, Daniel Krewski

Azathioprine (6-[(1-methyl-4-nitro-1H-imidazol-5-yl)sulfanyl]-7H-purine) is used as an adjunct immuno-suppressant for patients undergoing renal transplantation. It is a pro-drug that is converted to 6-mercaptopurine, which is itself used in treatment of acute lymphocytic leukemia. This compound produces squamous cell carcinoma of the skin and non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

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