Monday 25 June 2012

102.METHOTREXATE INHIBITS

A.DYHYDROFOLATE REDUCTASE
B.
C.
D.

ANS:DHFR


Methotrexate is thought to affect cancer and rheumatoid arthritis by two different pathways. For cancer, methotrexate allosterically inhibits dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR), an enzyme that participates in the tetrahydrofolate synthesis.The affinity of methotrexate for DHFR is about one thousand-fold that of folate. DHFR catalyses the conversion of dihydrofolate to the active tetrahydrofolate. Folic acid is needed for the de novo synthesis of the nucleoside thymidine, required for DNA synthesis. Also, folate is needed for purine base synthesis, so all purine synthesis will be inhibited. Methotrexate, therefore, inhibits the synthesis of DNA, RNA, thymidylates, and proteins.

Methotrexate acts specifically during DNA and RNA synthesis, and thus it is cytotoxic during the S-phase of the cell cycle. It therefore has a greater toxic effect on rapidly dividing cells (such as malignant and myeloid cells, and gastrointestinal and oral mucosa), which replicate their DNA more frequently, and thus inhibits the growth and proliferation of these noncancerous cells, as well as causing the listed side effects. Facing a scarcity of dTMP, rapidly dividing cancerous cells undergo cell death via thymineless death.

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