science

Tegafur/uracil

Tegafur/uracil is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Tegafur/uracil rather than just read about it. In short: Tegafur/uracil (abbreviation: UFT) is a chemotherapy drug combination used in the treatment of cancer, primarily bowel cancer. UFT is an oral formulation combining uracil (a competitive inhibitor of dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase), and tegafur (a bioavailable 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) prodrug) in a 4:1 molar ratio.

Key takeaways

Tegafur/uracil belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Tegafur/uracil to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Tegafur/uracil from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Tegafur/uracil (abbreviation: UFT) is a chemotherapy drug combination used in the treatment of cancer, primarily bowel cancer. UFT is an oral formulation combining uracil (a competitive inhibitor of dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase), and tegafur (a bioavailable 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) prodrug) in a 4:1 molar ratio. Uracil has also been stated to help protect the gastrointestinal tract from 5-FU toxicity and the related metabolites, with less side effects than 5-FU and other 5-FU related (pro)drugs.

Pharmacology

Pharmacodynamics Tetrahydrofuran metabolites of tegafur have been shown to exhibit antiangiogenic effects and improve cytocidal performance of 5-FU, particularly in patients with over-expressed HIF-1.

Pharmacokinetics 5-FU exhibits poor intestinal penetration and significant intestinal and hepatic first-pass metabolism by DPD, resulting in low and erratic systemic bioavailibility as well as formation of toxic metabolites. Tegafur, after being absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract and delivered to the liver by the portal venous system, is converted to the bioactive compound 5-FU by hepatic cytochrome P450 enzymes. Meanwhile, the surplus of uracil competitively inhibits hepatic DPD, preventing immediate inactivation of the just formed 5-FU.

Clinical trials Trials using UFT for cancer treatment include pancreatic cancer, colorectal cancer, liver cancer, adenocarcinoma of the lung, and breast cancer, with significant gains over existing treatments, including reduced side effects, improved quality of life, improved disease free survival and/or overall survival.

History The UFT combination was developed in Japan during the 1980s. UFT is approved in over 50 countries as a cancer therapy, most commonly for advanced colorectal cancer to replace 5FU, and has a low cost. "[P]atients appeared strongly to prefer treatment with [oral] UFT/LV over [intravenous] 5-FU/LV." In Japan, UFT is approved for cancer treatments including tumors of the colon/rectum, lung, breast, stomach, head and neck, liver, gallbladder, bile duct, pancreas, bladder, prostate, and cervix. In the UK, tegafur/uracil with folinic acid is approved as first line treatment by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) for metastatic colorectal cancer.

Available forms Tegafur/uracil is marketed by companies including Merck Serono, Korea United and Jeil, Taiho, mostly in Asia, Europe, South America, Central America and South Africa. It is made by various manufacturers and sold under a variety of names including: Tegafur-uracil, UFT, Ftorafur, Tefudex, Ufur and Uftoral. The UFT brand version is authorized for marketing in over 50 countries. Between 1984 and 2006, over 30 million patients were treated with UFT.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Tegafur/uracil

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Tegafur/uracil claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Tegafur/uracil before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Tegafur/uracil ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Tegafur/uracil

In research: Tegafur/uracil appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Tegafur/uracil in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Tegafur/uracil is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Combination cancer drugs, Drugs developed by Merck, Pyrimidine antagonists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Tegafur/uracil outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Tegafur/uracil in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Tegafur/uracil means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Tegafur/uracil out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Tegafur/uracil in simple terms?

Why does Tegafur/uracil matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Tegafur/uracil?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Tegafur/uracil.