{"entity":{"id":"xdh","kind":"target","name":"Xanthine oxidase (XDH)","aka":[],"tldr":"Xanthine oxidase makes uric acid from the breakdown of DNA; allopurinol blocks it to prevent the kidney damage of tumour lysis syndrome when chemotherapy kills many cancer cells at once.","summary":"Xanthine dehydrogenase/oxidase converts hypoxanthine and xanthine, released when nucleic acids from dying cells are broken down, into uric acid. When treatment destroys a large tumour burden quickly, as in acute leukaemia and high-grade lymphoma, the surge of uric acid can crystallise in the kidneys; allopurinol inhibits xanthine oxidase to stop new uric acid forming, and rasburicase breaks down uric acid that already exists. Allopurinol is standard prophylaxis for patients at intermediate risk of tumour lysis syndrome, with rasburicase reserved for high-risk or established cases.","asOf":"2026-09-04","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xanthine_oxidase","links":[{"label":"UniProt P47989: XDH","url":"https://www.uniprot.org/uniprotkb/P47989/entry"},{"label":"HGNC:12805 XDH","url":"https://www.genenames.org/data/gene-symbol-report/#!/hgnc_id/HGNC:12805"},{"label":"ChEMBL target CHEMBL1929","url":"https://www.ebi.ac.uk/chembl/explore/target/CHEMBL1929"}],"tags":["chembl-gap"],"related":[],"cancers":["all-leukemia","aml","burkitt-lymphoma","dlbcl"],"sections":[],"technologies":[],"targets":[],"drugs":["rasburicase"],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":["tumor-lysis-syndrome"],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"notes":[],"symbol":"XDH","biology":"A molybdenum-containing enzyme of purine catabolism in liver and gut; its oxidase form also generates reactive oxygen species.","whereFound":["Liver and intestinal epithelium","Relevant during induction chemotherapy for leukaemia and lymphoma"],"targetClass":"enzyme","prevalence":[]},"route":"/targets/xdh/","neighbours":{"cancer":[{"id":"all-leukemia","kind":"cancer","name":"Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia","route":"/cancers/all-leukemia/"},{"id":"aml","kind":"cancer","name":"Acute myeloid leukaemia","route":"/cancers/aml/"},{"id":"burkitt-lymphoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Burkitt lymphoma","route":"/cancers/burkitt-lymphoma/"},{"id":"dlbcl","kind":"cancer","name":"Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma","route":"/cancers/dlbcl/"}],"drug":[{"id":"rasburicase","kind":"drug","name":"Rasburicase","route":"/drugs/rasburicase/"}],"term":[{"id":"tumor-lysis-syndrome","kind":"term","name":"Tumour lysis syndrome (TLS)","route":"/terms/tumor-lysis-syndrome/"}]}}