ReviewThe oncologist2014
6-thioguanine: a drug with unrealized potential for cancer therapy.
Review in The oncologist, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 45 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
45 citing papers in PubMed, 120 citations in OpenAlex.
- Exploring the gut microbiome and metabolomic interactions of antimetabolite drugs to optimize therapy.Gut microbes · 2026Review
- Investigating the Therapeutic Activity of CACS omega · 2026Article
- Investigating the evolutionary history of the biosynthetic gene cluster for the cytotoxic purine analog, 6-thioguanine.Molecular genetics and genomics : MGG · 2026Article
- Clinical implications of 10-formyltetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase expression in hormone receptor-positive breast cancer.Frontiers in oncology · 2026Article
- MTAP-Null Tumors: A Comprehensive Review on Synthetic Vulnerabilities and Therapeutic Strategies.Cells · 2025Review
- Investigation of 6-thioguanine as a strategy to overcome methotrexate resistance in a mouse model of leptomeningeal carcinomatosis.Journal of neuro-oncology · 2025Article
- dECM-Supported Printing of Plasmonic Pillars for SERS Monitoring of Chemotherapy in 3D Tumor Models.ACS sensors · 2025Article
- Thioamides in medicinal chemistry and as small molecule therapeutic agents.European journal of medicinal chemistry · 2024Review
- Article
- Cancer chemotherapy and beyond: Current status, drug candidates, associated risks and progress in targeted therapeutics.Genes & diseases · 2023Review
- Review
- Metabolomics in oncology.Cancer reports (Hoboken, N.J.) · 2023Review
- Epigenetic targets in B- and T-cell lymphomas: latest developments.Therapeutic advances in hematology · 2023Review
- MTAP loss: a possible therapeutic approach for glioblastoma.Journal of translational medicine · 2022Review
- Revisiting the anticancer properties of phosphane(9-ribosylpurine-6-thiolato)gold(I) complexes and their 9H-purine precursors.Journal of biological inorganic chemistry : JBIC : a publication of the Society of Biological Inorganic Chemistry · 2022Article
- Gold nanoparticles loaded chitosan encapsulate 6-mercaptopurine as a novel nanocomposite for chemo-photothermal therapy on breast cancer.BMC chemistry · 2022Article
- Anticancer Drugs: Recent Strategies to Improve Stability Profile, Pharmacokinetic and Pharmacodynamic Properties.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Origin and Therapies of Osteosarcoma.Cancers · 2022Review
- How Should the Worldwide Knowledge of Traditional Cancer Healing Be Integrated with Herbs and Mushrooms into Modern Molecular Pharmacology?Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- A Novel Frameshifting Inhibitor Having Antiviral Activity against Zoonotic Coronaviruses.Viruses · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Sixty years ago, 6-thioguanine (6-TG) was introduced into the clinic. We suggest its full potential in therapy may not have been reached. In this paper, we contrast 6-TG and the more widely used 6-mercaptopurine; discuss 6-TG metabolism, pharmacokinetics, dosage and schedule; and summarize many of the early studies that have shown infrequent but nevertheless positive results with 6-TG treatment of cancers. We also consider studies that suggest that combinations of 6-TG with other agents may enhance antitumor effects. Although not yet tested in man, 6-TG has recently been proposed to treat a wide variety of cancers with a high frequency of homozygous deletion of the gene for methylthioadenosine phosphorylase (MTAP), often codeleted with the adjacent tumor suppressor CDKN2A (p16). Among the cancers with a high frequency of MTAP deficiency are leukemias, lymphomas, mesothelioma, melanoma, biliary tract cancer, glioblastoma, osteosarcoma, soft tissue sarcoma, neuroendocrine tumors, and lung, pancreatic, and squamous cell carcinomas. The method involves pretreatment with the naturally occurring nucleoside methylthioadenosine (MTA), the substrate for the enzyme MTAP. MTA pretreatment protects normal host tissues, but not MTAP-deficient cancers, from 6-TG toxicity and permits administration of doses of 6-TG that are much higher than can now be safely administered. The combination of MTA/6-TG has produced substantial shrinkage or slowing of growth in two different xenograft human tumor models: lymphoblastic leukemia and metastatic prostate carcinoma with neuroendocrine features. Further development and a clinical trial of the proposed MTA/6-TG treatment of MTAP-deficient cancers seem warranted.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.