Drug/Small Molecule:
vidarabine

2D structure

Overview

Generic Names: 9-beta-D-arabinofuranosyl-adenine; Adenine Arabinoside; Ara Atp; Ara-A; Ara-Atp; Ara-a Triphosphate; Araadenosine; Arabinofuranosyladenine Triphosphate; Arabinoside Adenine; Arabinosyl Adenine; Arabinosyl-Atp; Arabinosyladenine; Arabinosyladenine Triphosphate; Vidarabine Triphosphate
Trade Names: Arasena-A; Spongoadenosine; Vidarabin; Vira-A
PharmGKB Accession Id: PA451876

Description

A nucleoside antibiotic isolated from Streptomyces antibioticus. It has some antineoplastic properties and has broad spectrum activity against DNA viruses in cell cultures and significant antiviral activity against infections caused by a variety of viruses such as the herpes viruses, the vaccinia VIRUS and varicella zoster virus. PubChem (source: Drug Bank)

Indication

For treatment of chickenpox - varicella, herpes zoster and herpes simplex (source: Drug Bank)

ATC Therapeutic Categories

  • J05AB:Nucleosides and nucleotides excl. reverse transcriptase inhibitors
  • S01AD:Antivirals

Pharmacology, Interactions, and Contraindications

Mechanism Of Action

Vidarabine stops replication of herpes viral DNA in 3 ways: 1) competitive inhibition of viral DNA polymerase, 2) incorporation into and termination of the growing viral DNA chain, and 3) inactivation of the viral DNA polymerase. (source: Drug Bank)

Pharmacology

Vidarabine is a synthetic purine nucleoside analogue with <i>in vitro</i> and <i>in vivo</i> inhibitory activity against herpes simplex virus types 1 (HSV-1), 2 (HSV-2), and varicella-zoster virus (VZV). The inhibitory activity of Vidarabine is highly selective due to its affinity for the enzyme thymidine kinase (TK) encoded by HSV and VZV. This viral enzyme converts Vidarabine into Vidarabine monophosphate, a nucleotide analogue. The monophosphate is further converted into diphosphate by cellular guanylate kinase and into triphosphate by a number of cellular enzymes. <i>in vitro</i>, Vidarabine triphosphate stops replication of herpes viral DNA. When used as a substrate for viral DNA polymerase, Vidarabine triphosphate competitively inhibits dATP leading to the formation of 'faulty' DNA. This is where Vidarabine triphosphate is incorporated into the DNA strand replacing many of the adenosine bases. This results in the prevention of DNA synthesis, as phosphodiester bridges can longer to be built, destabilizing the strand. (source: Drug Bank)

Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism, Elimination & Toxicity

Biotransformation

In laboratory animals, vidarabine is rapidly deaminated in the gastrointestinal tract to Ara-Hx. (source: Drug Bank)

Protein Binding

24-38% (source: Drug Bank)

Absorption

Systemetic absorption of vidarabine should not be expected to occur following ocular administration and swallowing lacrimal secretions. (source: Drug Bank)

Toxicity

Acute massive overdosage by oral ingestion of the ophthalmic ointment has not occurred. However, the rapid deamination to arabinosylhypoxanthine should preclude any difficulty. The oral LD<sub>50</sub> for vidarabine is greater than 5020 mg/kg in mice and rats. No untoward effects should result from ingestion of the entire contents of the tube. Overdosage by ocular instillation is unlikely because any excess should be quickly expelled from the conjunctival sac. (source: Drug Bank)

Isomeric SMILES Code:

C1=NC(=C2C(=N1)N(C=N2)[C@H]3[C@H]([C@@H]([C@H](O3)CO)O)O)N.O (source: Drug Bank)

A list of non-curated publications that mention this drug along with other genes is available.

A list of non-curated publications that mention this drug along with other drugs is available.

Non-Curated Information

A list of non-curated publications that mention this drug along with other diseases is available.

Additional Datasets

These datasets are minimally curated and are sorted alphabetically by title.

  1. The Connectivity Map: using gene-expression signatures to connect small molecules, genes, and disease

LinkOuts

Web Resource:
Wikipedia
DrugBank:
DB00194
KEGG Compound ID:
C07195
KEGG Drug ID:
D00406
PubChem Compound ID:
32326
PubChem Substance ID:
174304

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Non-Curated Publications

A list of non-curated publications that mention this drug is available.

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