The principal objective of this study was the examination of the theory of cytotoxic synergism. In this exploratory study, we tested the hypothesis that doubling the number of sites available for thiol alkylation in a series of candidate cytotoxins increases potency more than two-fold. This concept was verified in one-third of our comparisons using human Molt 4/C8 and CEM T-lymphocytes and murine L1210 cells. In addition, the significant potencies of various members of our compound series justified further studies. Molecular modeling revealed that relative locations of the amidic groups correlate with cytotoxicity. A potent cytotoxic compound, 1,2-bis(3,5-dibenzylidene-4-oxo-piperidin-1-yl)ethane-1,2-dione (1a) inhibited the growth of a large number of human tumor cell lines and displayed greater toxicity toward certain non-adherent cells than toward adherent neoplasms or fibroblasts. The mode of action of 1a includes induction of apoptosis and necrosis.
No abstract is provided for this article.
Following exposure to 9-(2-phosphonylmethoxyethyl)adenine (an inhibitor of the cellular DNA polymerases alpha, delta and epsilon), human erythroleukemia K562, human T-lymphoid CEM and murine leukemia L1210 cells markedly accumulated in the S phase of the cell cycle. In contrast to DNA replication, RNA synthesis (transcription) and protein synthesis (mRNA translation) were not affected by 9-(2-phosphonylmethoxyethyl)-adenine. The ribonucleoside triphosphate pools were slightly elevated, while the intracellular levels of all four deoxyribonucleoside triphosphates were 1.5-4-fold increased in 9-(2-phosphonylmethoxyethyl)adenine-treated K562, CEM and L1210 cells. The effect of 9-(2-phosphonylmethoxyethyl)adenine on de novo (thymidylate synthase-mediated) and salvage (thymidine kinase-mediated) dTTP synthesis was investigated using radio-labelled nucleoside precursors. The amount of thymidylate synthase-derived dTTP in the acid soluble pool was 2-4-fold higher in PMEA-treated than in untreated K562 cells, which is in accord with the 3-4-fold expansion of the global dTTP level in the presence of 9-(2-phosphonylmethoxyethyl)adenine. Strikingly, 2-derived dTTP accumulated to a much higher extent (i.e. 16-40-fold) in the soluble dTTP pool upon 9-(2-phosphonylmethoxyethyl)adenine treatment. In keeping with this finding, a markedly increased thymidine kinase activity could be demonstrated in extracts of 9-(2-phosphonylmethoxyethyl)adenine-treated K562 cell cultures. Also, in the presence of 200 microM 9-(2-phosphonylmethoxyethyl)adenine, 14-fold less thymidylate synthase-derived but only 3-fold less thymidine kinase-derived dTTP was incorporated into the DNA of the K562 cells. These data show that thymidine incorporation may be inappropriate as a cell proliferation marker in the presence of DNA synthesis inhibitors such as 9-(2-phosphonylmethoxyethyl)adenine. Our findings indicate that 9-(2-phosphonylmethoxyethyl)adenine causes a peculiar pattern of (deoxy)ribonucleotide metabolism deregulation in drug-treated tumor cells, as a result of the metabolic block imposed by the drug on the S phase of the cell cycle.
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In this paper, a new method is presented to directly determine from the shape of a Ramsey pattern the real microwave level present in the cavity of a beam frequency standard. Then a new method to evaluate the atomic time of flight distribution using a regularization approach is presented. In opposition to existing methods, this approach uses only one Ramsey measurement because it allows the incorporation of the a priori information about the time of flight distribution. The validity of this method is confirmed by experimental results.
Of the different steps of the HIV replicative cycle, the reverse transcription step has received most attention as a target for chemotherapeutic intervention. The reverse transcriptase (RT) can be blocked by both nucleoside (nucleotide) and non-nucleoside type of inhibitors. Whereas the former act as competitive inhibitors with respect to the natural substrates or alternate substrates (chain terminators), the latter act allosterically with a non-substrate binding site of the enzyme. Several non-nucleoside types of RT inhibitors have proved to inhibit HIV-1 replication at nanomolar concentrations that are 10(4)- to 10(5)-fold lower than the cytotoxic concentrations. Although a non-nucleoside HIV-1-specific RT inhibitor may rapidly select for virus-drug resistance in cell culture, the resulting mutant strain may or may not show cross-resistance, and in some instances even hypersensitivity, to other HIV-specific RT inhibitors. When used at the appropriate concentrations, HIV-1-specific RT inhibitors are able to completely shut off ("knock-out") virus replication in vitro, under conditions where dideoxynucleoside analogues such as AZT fail to do so. This apparent "sterilizing effect" achieved by the non-nucleoside type of HIV-1-specific RT inhibitors opens new perspectives for the treatment of HIV infections in patients.
