Identification and comparative analysis of thymidine phosphorylase in the plasma of healthy subjects and cancer patients

Expression of platelet-derived endothelial cell growth factor in Escherichia coli and confirmation of its thymidine phosphorylase activity

Platelet-derived endothelial cell growth factor (PD-ECGF) has been expressed in Escherichia coli as a fusion protein with glutathione S-transferase (GST). The fusion protein was purified by one-step affinity chromatography on glutathione-agarose beads, and recombinant PD-ECGF was proteolytically cleaved with thrombin from its GST leader peptide to yield pure protein. Recombinant PD-ECGF stimulated [3H]methylthymidine uptake by endothelial cells in vitro; however, we were unable to detect stimulation of cell proliferation under a wide variety of conditions. We confirm that in accord with the recent report that PD-ECGF and human thymidine phosphorylase are products of the same gene [Furukawa, T., Yoshimura, A., Sumizawa, T., Haraguchi, M., & Akiyama, S. I. (1992) Nature 356, 668] recombinant PD-ECGF has thymidine phosphorylase activity comparable to that of E. coli thymidine phosphorylase. Further, E. coli thymidine phosphorylase was able to mimic the activity of recombinant PD-ECGF in the [3H]methylthymidine uptake assay, and it appears that recombinant PD-ECGF's effect on the uptake of thymidine by endothelial cells may be due to modulation of cellular thymidine pools. The mechanism by which PD-ECGF stimulates angiogenesis remains to be elucidated.

Purification and tissue distribution of human thymidine phosphorylase; high expression in lymphocytes, reticulocytes and tumors

Thymidine phosphorylase (dThdPase) is an enzyme involved in pyrimidine nucleoside metabolism, but little is known about its physiological functions. We purified dThdPase from human placenta and used it for antibody preparation. The purified material appears as a single band at 55,000 dalton on sodium dodecylsulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. We obtained a specific antibody raised in rabbits that detected a single polypeptide with a molecular weight of 55,000 dalton in the post nuclear homogenates of several human tissues, on immunoblotting. Using the same technique, dThdPase was highly expressed in the liver, lung, spleen, lymph nodes and peripheral lymphocytes. Immunohistochemical staining revealed that macrophage-like cells contained a much higher amount of dThdPase than parenchymal cells in the liver and lung. dThdPase was found to be highly expressed in T- and B-cell-type malignant lymphoma cells, but low in lymphoblastic and myeloblastic leukemia cells. We also found that carcinomas in the stomach, colon and ovary contained higher amounts of this enzyme than non-neoplastic regions of the tissues. These data suggest that dThdPase plays a role in proliferation and/or differentiation of leukocytes and in cancer proliferation.

The role of blood platelets in nucleoside metabolism: assay, cellular location and significance of thymidine phosphorylase in human blood

The enzyme thymidine phosphorylase (thymidine: orthophosphate deoxyribosyltransferase, EC 2.4.2.4), which plays a crucial role in nucleic acid metabolism in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells by regulating the availability of thymidine, is present in mammalian blood. Here we describe a simple, rapid HPLC-based micromethod for the assay of blood thymidine phosphorylase. We have arbitrarily defined 1 unit of blood thymidine phosphorylase activity as the activity required to produce a 1-nM increment in the plasma concentration of thymine after incubation for 1 h at 37 degrees C with a saturating concentration of exogenous thymidine. In normal adults, whole (peripheral venous) blood thymidine phosphorylase activity with blood cells intact was 64 +/- 11 units (mean +/- S.D., n = 20, range 45-89). The apparent Michaelis constant for thymidine was of the order of 10(-4) M but varied nearly 5-fold between different individuals. Activity increased when blood cells were permeabilised or lysed with non-ionic detergents, implying that thymidine phosphorylase is an intracellular enzyme which may be influenced by exogenous as well as intracellular factors. When blood from normal donors was fractionated, thymidine phosphorylase activity consistently co-isolated with platelets. Whole-blood thymidine phosphorylase activity correlated well with platelet parameters. Although thymidine phosphorylase activity was also detected in plasma and serum, the small size and notorious fragility of platelets suggest its platelet origin. Blood from leukaemic donors showed significantly increased thymidine phosphorylase activity compared to normal controls (mean activity +/- S.D. was 96 +/- 27 units; range 58-140, n = 8). Thymine formation from thymidine was temperature- and pH-dependent in whole blood. 2'-Deoxyuridine and 3 of its 5-halogenated analogues (but not 3'-azido-3'-deoxythymidine (AZT), were catabolised by blood thymidine phosphorylase, even during blood clotting at room temperature. Assumptions about in vivo concentrations of these compounds should therefore be interpreted cautiously. In the presence of high concentrations of thymine and suitable deoxyribose donors, small amounts of thymidine were formed in some blood samples, so it is conceivable that thymidine catabolism may be reversible in vivo under some circumstances.

Metabolic breakdown of [3H]thymidine and the inability to measure human lymphocyte proliferation by incorporation of radioactivity

Quantitative measurement of the incorporation of tritiated thymidine into cultures of phytohemagglutinin-stimulated lymphocytes is routinely used as an indication of the immunocompetence of the cells and of their proliferation. The present experiments show that several components of human blood catabolize nucleosides, including thymidine, extensively. Most of the radioactivity from tritiated thymidine, for example, is quickly rendered unincorporable as the compound is metabolized to thymine and further breakdown products. Thus, cells continue to proliferate without incorporating radioactivity from the medium. Furthermore, variability in the degree of catabolism has been found from person to person, so that neither measurement of the depletion of radioactivity from the medium nor measurement of the amount of label incorporated into the cultures can be used as a quantitative indicator of cell proliferation or immunocompetence.

Combination clinical trials with thymidine and fluorouracil: a phase I and clinical pharmacologic evaluation

Phase I observations of combined therapy with thymidine (TdR) and 5-fluorouracil (FU) have demonstrated that when TdR is administered by rapid infusion at a dose of 7.5 or 15g and FU is given by bolus injection 60 minutes after the start of the TdR dose, the biologic activity of Fu is increased five- to eight-fold. The observed toxicity is primarily hematopoietic: 15g TdR and 7.5 or 10mg/kg FU produced median white blood count nadirs of 2,600 on day 16 and platelet count nadirs of 150,000 on day 14. The combined therapy produced two partial remissions in 18 patients with colon cancer, 17 of which had experienced progression of disease on FU containing regimens. Partial remissions were also obtained in two heavily pretreated patients with ovarian cancer and diffuse, poorly differentiated lymphocytic lymphoma. Plasma analyses for TdR and FU and their metabolic products by high pressure liquid chromatography have demonstrated a marked elevation and prolongation of FU levels. The beta phase T 1/2 for 7.5mg/kg FU were: FU alone 6 minutes, 7.5g TdR + FU 135 minutes, 15g TdR + FU 188 minutes, and TdR 45g + FU 190 minutes. The addition of TdR all but eliminated oxidative metabolism of FU; renal clearance became the primary detoxification route. Thymidine levels exceeded 10(-3)M; the beta phase T 1/2 of TdR varied with the administered dose: 3gTdR, 7 minutes; 7.5g TdR, 24 minutes; 15g TdR, 52 minutes; and 45g TdR, 98 minutes.