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Glite Dictionary
thioguanine

thioguanine

1 9.9
A medicine used to treat a type of blood cancer called leukemia
  • noun
  • /θaɪoʊˈɡwɑːniːn/
  • Specialized
: tioguanina
  • The doctor prescribed thioguanine to help treat her acute leukemia.

Examples

  • The chemotherapy regimen consisted of Daunomycin, G-Thioguanine, and ARA-C.

    Academic text (1995)

  • Patients undergoing treatment for leukemia often receive thioguanine as part of their chemotherapy.

  • After careful evaluation, the oncologist recommended thioguanine as an effective drug for the patient's condition.

Surface Forms

thioguanine singular
thioguanines plural

Morphology

thioguanine = guanine (semi-transparent) = thio + guanine

Formed from the chemical combining form 'thio-' (sulfur) + 'guanine'; the relation is clear to those with chemistry knowledge but not to average B1 learners.

Etymology

Thioguanine comes from two parts: thio- meaning 'sulfur' and guanine, the name of a DNA base related to the word 'gene'. Because it is like guanine but has sulfur added, it can change how cells copy DNA and so is used to slow or stop the fast growth of cancer cells, which is why thioguanine treats some leukemias.