Description
5-Azacytidine is a DNA methyltransferase inhibitor that induces the demethylation and reactivation of silenced genes. It is an epigenetic modifier and chemical analogue of cytidine, a DNA and RNA nucleotide. 5-Azacytidine is reported to inhibit the proliferation of several cancer cell lines by reducing hypermethylation and is useful for stem cell research as it can enhance the differentiation of embryonic stem cells into cardiomyocytes and reset the epigenetic memory of mouse IPS cells. A recent study reported that5-Azacytidine in conjunction with PDGF-AB can induce the conversion of somatic cells into tissue-regenerative multipotent stem cells.