Mercaptopurine

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A medication used to treat certain types of cancer and autoimmune diseases by interfering with DNA synthesis to inhibit cell growth and reduce immune system activity
2. A pharmaceutical compound employed in chemotherapy and immunosuppressive therapies that disrupts the production of genetic material to control abnormal or overactive cell proliferation
3. A chemical agent utilized in medical treatments for leukemia and other disorders that blocks nucleic acid formation, thereby limiting the multiplication of harmful or immune cells

Etymology: Mercaptopurine is a compound name built from two chemical pieces, and the first of them, "mercapto-", carries a Latin ghost. The prefix comes from "mercurium captans", Latin for "seizing mercury", because mercaptans, the sulfur compounds it names, readily bind mercury. The Latin "mercurium" is the metal, named after the god Mercury, and "captans" is the present participle of "captare", meaning to seize or grasp, which in turn descends from the Latin "capere". The second piece, "purine", has a different and more recent history. It was coined in German as "Purin", a blend of the Latin "pura" (pure) and "uricum" (of urine), reflecting that the parent compound was first obtained from uric acid. English took it up as "purine," and the two pieces were joined to name this drug. The compound itself is a purine analogue, a molecule that mimics a natural building block of DNA and so interferes with the cell's ability to copy its genetic material.

Synonyms: 6-mercaptopurine, 6-MP, purine analog, antimetabolite, immunosuppressant