Novel and unusual nucleosides as drugs

Favipiravir and Its Structural Analogs: Antiviral Activity and Synthesis Methods

1,4-Pyrazine-3-carboxamide-based antiviral compounds have been under intensive study for the last 20 years. One of these compounds, favipiravir (6-fluoro-3-hydroxypyrazine-2-carboxamide, T-705), is approved for use against the influenza infection in a number of countries. Now, favipiravir is being actively used against COVID-19. This review describes the in vivo metabolism of favipiravir, the mechanism of its antiviral activity, clinical findings, toxic properties, and the chemical synthesis routes for its production. We provide data on the synthesis and antiviral activity of structural analogs of favipiravir, including nucleosides and nucleotides based on them.

Characterization of novel Na+-dependent nucleobase transport systems at the blood-testis barrier

In the testis, nucleosides and nucleobases are important substrates of the salvage pathway for nucleotide biosynthesis, and one of the roles of Sertoli cells is to provide nutrients and metabolic precursors to spermatogenic cells located within the blood-testis barrier (BTB). We have already shown that concentrative and equilibrative nucleoside transporters are expressed and are functional in primary-cultured rat Sertoli cells as a BTB model, but little is known about nucleobase transport at the BTB or about the genes encoding specific nucleobase transporters in mammalian cells. In the present study, we examined the uptake of purine ([3H]guanine) and pyrimidine ([3H]uracil) nucleobases by primary-cultured rat Sertoli cells. The uptake of both nucleobases was time and concentration dependent. Kinetic analysis showed the involvement of three different transport systems in guanine uptake. In contrast, uracil uptake was mediated by a single Na+-dependent high-affinity transport system. Guanine uptake was inhibited by other purine nucleobases but not by pyrimidine nucleobases, whereas uracil uptake was inhibited only by pyrimidine nucleobases. In conclusion, it was suggested that there might be purine- or pyrimidine-selective nucleobase transporters in rat Sertoli cells.

Purine nucleobase transport in amastigotes of Leishmania mexicana: involvement in allopurinol uptake

Nucleobase and nucleoside transporters play central roles in the biochemistry of parasitic protozoa, as they lack the ability to synthesize purines de novo and are absolutely reliant upon purine salvage from their hosts. Furthermore, such transporters are potentially critical to the pharmacology of these important human pathogens, because they mediate the uptake of purine analogues, as well as some nonpurine drugs, that can be selectively cytotoxic to the parasites. We here report the first identification and characterization of a purine nucleobase transporter in Leishmania amastigotes. Uptake of [3H]hypoxanthine by Leishmania mexicana amastigotes was mediated by a single high-affinity transporter, LmexNBT1, with a Km of 1.6 +/- 0.4 microM and high affinity for adenine, guanine, and xanthine but low affinity for nucleosides and pyrimidine nucleobases. Allopurinol, an antileishmanial hypoxanthine analogue, was apparently taken up by the same transporter. Using [3H]allopurinol, a Km value of 33.6 +/- 6.0 microM was obtained. All evidence was compatible with a model of a single purine nucleobase transporter being expressed in amastigotes. Using various purine nucleobase analogues, a model for the interactions between hypoxanthine and the transporter's permeant binding site was constructed. The binding interactions were compared with those of the LmajNBT1 transporter in Leishmania major promastigotes and found to be very similar.