Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2013;18(5):619-24.
doi: 10.1634/theoncologist.2012-0465. Epub 2013 May 13.

Concise drug review: azacitidine and decitabine

Affiliations

Concise drug review: azacitidine and decitabine

Ellen J B Derissen et al. Oncologist. 2013.

Abstract

The introduction of the hypomethylating agents azacitidine and decitabine has been a major advancement in the treatment of patients with higher-risk myelodysplastic syndromes, chronic myelomonocytic leukemia, and acute myeloid leukemia who are ineligible for more intensive treatments. This concise drug review summarizes the current state of treatment with azacitidine and decitabine.

Keywords: Azacitidine; DNA methyltransferase inhibitor; Decitabine; Drug profile; Hypomethylating drug.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Disclosures of potential conflicts of interest may be found at the end of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Chemical structures of cytidine (A), azacitidine (B), and decitabine (5-aza-2′-deoxycytidine) (C).

Similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Beran M. Intensive chemotherapy for patients with high-risk myelodysplastic syndrome. Int J Hematol. 2000;72:139–150. - PubMed
    1. Fenaux P, Mufti GJ, Hellstrom-Lindberg E, et al. Efficacy of azacitidine compared with that of conventional care regimens in the treatment of higher-risk myelodysplastic syndromes: A randomised, open-label, phase III study. Lancet Oncol. 2009;10:223–232. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Itzykson R, Fenaux P. Optimizing hypomethylating agents in myelodysplastic syndromes. Curr Opin Hematol. 2012;19:65–70. - PubMed
    1. Kantarjian H, Issa JP, Rosenfeld CS, et al. Decitabine improves patient outcomes in myelodysplastic syndromes: Results of a phase III randomized study. Cancer. 2006;106:1794–1803. - PubMed
    1. Lübbert M, Suciu S, Baila L, et al. Low-dose decitabine versus best supportive care in elderly patients with intermediate- or high-risk myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) ineligible for intensive chemotherapy: Final results of the randomized phase III study of the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Leukemia Group and the German MDS Study Group. J Clin Oncol. 2011;29:1987–1996. - PubMed

MeSH terms