Azidothymidine

Biological Activity

Azidothymidine is a selective reverse transcriptase inhibitor. Exhibits 100-fold selectivity for HIV reverse transcriptase over DNA polymerase α. Suppresses HIV-1 replication and enhances cell viability in HIV-1 infected T cells. Attenuates growth of multiple myeloma (MM) cells in vitro and reduces growth of MM tumor xenografts in mice. Increases differentiation iPSCs into cortical neurons and reduces the over-proliferation of neural precursors. Orally bioavailable and brain penetrant. Antiretroviral agent. Also decreases CRISPR-mediated homology directed repair (HDR) efficiency.

Technical Data

The technical data provided above is for guidance only. For batch specific data refer to the Certificate of Analysis.
Tocris products are intended for laboratory research use only, unless stated otherwise.

Additional Information

Background References

1. Small molecules enhance CRISPR genome editing in pluripotent stem cells.
   Yu et al.
   Cell Stem Cell, 2015;16:142
2. The telomerase inhibitor AZT enhances differentiation and prevents overgrowth of human pluripotent stem cell-derived neural progenitors.
   Hu et al.
   J.Biol.Chem., 2018;293:8722
3. 3'-Azido-3'-deoxythymidine (BW A509U): an antiviral agent that inhibits the infectivity and cytopathic effect of human T-lymphotropic virus type III/lymphadenopathy-associated virus in vitro.
   Mitsuya et al.
   Proc.Natl.Acad.Sci.U.S.A., 1985;82:7096
4. Phosphorylation of 3'-azido-3'-deoxythymidine and selective interaction of the 5'-triphosphate with human immunodeficiency virus reverse transcriptase.
   Furman et al.
   Proc.Natl.Acad.Sci.U.S.A., 1986;83:8333
5. The development of antiretroviral therapy and its impact on the HIV-1/AIDS pandemic.
   Broder
   Antiviral Res., 2010;85:1
6. Azidothymidine is effective against human multiple myeloma: a new use for an old drug?
   Pereira et al.
   Anticancer Agents Med.Chem., 2013;13:186
7. HSV-1 and Zika Virus but Not SARS-CoV-2 Replicate in the Human Cornea and Are Restricted by Corneal Type III Interferon
   JJ Miner, DJ Platt, CM Ghaznavi, P Chandra, A Santeford, AM Menos, Z Dong, ER Wang, W Qian, ES Karozichia, JA Philips, RS Apte
   Cell Rep, 2020;33(5):108339.

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