ABSTRACT
Most agents employed for the treatment of malignant disease were characterized for this activity based on screening procedures designed to identify compounds that suppressed the growth of rapidly dividing cells. Not surprisingly, this procedure has resulted in the selection of drugs which alter either the function or the synthesis of DNA. It has become increasingly clear that future strides in the area of rational anticancer drug development will require more than a simple screening of compounds. The acute effect that antimetabolites can have on RNA metabolism, as demonstrated in this presentation, is considerable. It is not clear, however, what changes result directly from the antimetabolite and which result from other changes in cellular physiology. The regulation of mRNA metabolism with anticancer drugs is particularly intriguing, should some selectivity among mRNA for different genes be obtainable. The studies presented demonstrate that mRNA as a class does not respond uniformly to the antimetabolites.
