2'-Deoxyuridine

Description

2'-Deoxyuridine is an intermediate in the synthesis of thymidylate, which is a precursor for DNA synthesis. It has been shown to inhibit the enzymatic activity of enzymes responsible for synthesizing uridine and thymidylate, leading to neuronal death. 2'-Deoxyuridine has been used as a fluorescence probe for nucleic acids and as a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) substrate. It is also known to bind with toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), which is involved in inflammatory responses.

Chemical properties

White crystalline powder

The Uses of 2'-Deoxyuridine

An uridine derivative as therapeutic agent for treating allergy, cancer, infection and autoimmune disease

The Uses of 2'-Deoxyuridine

2'-Deoxyuridine is frequently halogenated to create thymidine analogues useful for studies of DNA synthesis and degradation mechanisms. Derivatized 2'-Deoxyuridines used as labeling substrates include chloro-2'-deoxyuridine (CldU), bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) and/or iododeoxyuridine (IdU). Other useful analogues of 2'-deoxyuridine include 5-ethynyl-2'-deoxyuridine (DdU) and 5-hydroxymethyl-2'-deoxyuridine (HmdU). Laboratory suppression of deoxyuridine is used to diagnose megaloblastic anemias due to vitamin B12 and folate deficiencies. Deoxyuridine (dU) is used to indirectly determine if there are sufficient levels of folate and cobalamin in cell or tissue samples.

Definition

ChEBI: 2'-deoxyuridine is a pyrimidine 2'-deoxyribonucleoside having uracil as the nucleobase. It has a role as a human metabolite, a Saccharomyces cerevisiae metabolite, an Escherichia coli metabolite and a mouse metabolite. It is functionally related to a uracil.

Biological Activity

2'-deoxyuridine is frequently halogenated to create thymidine analogues useful for studies of dna synthesis and degradation mechanisms.