An anticancer nucleoside analog; inhibits the growth of HL-60 promyelocytic leukemia cells (LC50 = 40 nM); inhibits the growth of MX-1 mammary, CX-1, HC-1, GC3, and VRC5 colon, LX-1, Calu-6, and NCI-H460 lung, and HS766T, PaCa-2, PANC-1, and BxPC-3 pancreatic cancer tumors in mouse xenograft models (45-93% inhibition); inhibits repair-mediated DNA demethylation in a methylation-sensitive reporter assay; decreases MuLV cell infectivity (EC50 = ~1.5 nM); inhibits the progression of murine AIDS in vivo