Home British & World English anthracycline

Definition of anthracycline in English:

anthracycline

noun

Pharmacology

  • Any of a class of antineoplastic drugs whose molecules contain a tetracyclic nucleus related to anthraquinone and whose major action is to inhibit the uncoiling and coiling of DNA necessary for its transcription and replication.

Origin

1960s. From anthra- + -cycline, after German Anthracyclin, so named with reference to the ring structure of the compounds.

Pronunciation

anthracycline

/ˌanθrəˈsʌɪkliːn//ˌanθrəˈsʌɪklɪn/