Antimetabolites are known to interfere with what?

Antimetabolites play a crucial role in cancer treatment by mimicking the building blocks of DNA and RNA, thereby interfering with normal cell metabolism. These drugs disrupt the synthesis and function of nucleic acids, essential for cellular processes such as division and metabolism.

By mimicking these metabolites, antimetabolites can insert themselves into DNA or RNA strands during replication or transcription, ultimately leading to faulty nucleic acid production. This interference is particularly impactful during the S phase of the cell cycle, which is when DNA synthesis occurs. Healthy cells are affected significantly, as well as cancerous cells that are rapidly dividing and utilizing similar metabolic pathways, thus making antimetabolites particularly effective in targeting these fast-proliferating cancer cells.

The other options relate to different aspects of cancer and treatment. While antimetabolites do target cancerous cell division indirectly through their effect on metabolism, their primary mechanism involves altering the metabolic processes at the cellular level. They do not primarily focus on disrupting the blood supply to tumors or directly impacting immune responses.