Antimetabolites and Immunoinflammatory Diseases

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Abstract
IN the early 1950's a team of chemists directed by George Hitchings undertook a new approach to the design and synthesis of antimetabolites that might inhibit neoplastic growth. Working from what was then known about purine metabolism they developed an unusually interesting molecule, 6-mercaptopurine. "Synthesized in all innocence as a simple analogue of hypoxanthine,"1 this drug is now known to affect cell metabolism in a complex manner. The effects of 6-mercaptopurine on neoplasms, when judged by results in the treatment of leukemia, have been somewhat disappointing. However, the discovery of its immunosuppressive properties2 revealed new possibilities. Encouraged by these prospects, . . .

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