On the interaction of adriamycin with DNA: investigation of spectral changes

Secondary alcohol metabolites mediate iron delocalization in cytosolic fractions of myocardial biopsies exposed to anticancer anthracyclines. Novel linkage between anthracycline metabolism and iron-induced cardiotoxicity

The cardiotoxicity of doxorubicin (DOX) and other quinone-containing antitumor anthracyclines has been tentatively attributed to the formation of drug semiquinones which generate superoxide anion and reduce ferritin-bound Fe(III), favoring the release of Fe(II) and its subsequent involvement in free radical reactions. In the present study NADPH- and DOX-supplemented cytosolic fractions from human myocardial biopsies are shown to support a two-step reaction favoring an alternative mechanism of Fe(II) mobilization. The first step is an enzymatic two-electron reduction of the C-13 carbonyl group in the side chain of DOX, yielding a secondary alcohol metabolite which is called doxorubicinol (3.9 +/- 0.4 nmoles/mg protein per 4 h, mean +/- SEM). The second step is a nonenzymatic and superoxide anion-independent redox coupling of a large fraction of doxorubicinol (3.2 +/- 0.4 nmol/mg protein per 4 h) with Fe(III)-binding proteins distinct from ferritin, regenerating stoichiometric amounts of DOX, and mobilizing a twofold excess of Fe(II) ions (6.1 +/- 0.7 nmol/mg protein per 4 h). The formation of secondary alcohol metabolites decreases significantly (Pi < 0.01) when DOX is replaced by less cardiotoxic anthracyclines such as daunorubicin, 4'-epi DOX, and 4-demethoxy daunorubicin (2.1 +/- 0.1, 1.2 +/- 0.2, and 0.6 +/- 0.2 nmol/mg protein per 4 h, respectively). Therefore, daunorubicin, 4'-epi DOX, and 4-demethoxy daunorubicin are significantly (P < 0.01) less effective than DOX in mobilizing Fe(II) (3.5 +/- 0.1, 1.8 +/- 0.2, and 0.9 +/- 0.3 nmol/mg protein per 4 h, respectively). These results highlight the formation of secondary alcohol metabolites and the availability of nonferritin sources of Fe(III) as novel and critical determinants of Fe(II) delocalization and cardiac damage by structurally distinct anthracyclines, thus providing alternative routes to the design of cardioprotectants for anthracycline-treated patients.

Enhancement of doxorubicin toxicity following activation by NADPH cytochrome P450 reductase

Treatment of MCF-7 cells with doxorubicin in the presence of purified rat NADPH cytochrome P450 reductase (P450red) and NADPH resulted in a marked enhancement of drug cytotoxicity. No potentiation of cell killing was observed when the drug was incubated with P450red and NADPH prior to addition to the cells, implicating the involvement of short-lived species. The increase in doxorubicin toxicity was clearly related to its metabolism by P450red. Of a variety of free radical scavenging agents tested only glutathione was effective in protecting against the toxic metabolites produced by reductive activation. Preliminary experiments also showed that doxorubicin binding to cellular proteins and DNA occurred to a greater extent when cells were treated with the drug and P450red. Our data indicate that oxygen radicals do not play a primary role in cytochrome P450 reductase-mediated doxorubicin cytotoxicity and suggest that, in this case, the mechanism of toxicity involves a reactive species which binds to cellular nucleophiles.

Free radical formation by antitumor quinones

Quinones are among the most frequently used drugs to treat human cancer. All of the antitumor quinones can undergo reversible enzymatic reduction and oxidation, and form semiquinone and oxygen radicals. For several antitumor quinones enzymatic reduction also leads to formation of alkylating species but whether this involves reduction to the semiquinone or the hydroquinone is not always clear. The antitumor activity of quinones is frequently linked to DNA damage caused by alkylating species or oxygen radicals. Some other effects of the antitumor quinones, such as cardiotoxicity and skin toxicity, may also be related to oxygen radical formation. The evidence for a relationship between radical formation and the biological activity of the antitumor quinones is evaluated.

gamma-radiolysis study of the reduction by COO- free radicals of daunorubicin intercalated in DNA

The reduction of daunorubicin intercalated in DNA was studied using COO- free radicals produced by gamma-radiolysis as reductants. The reduction process of the drug intercalated in DNA was found to be very similar to the one of daunorubicin in aqueous solution without DNA. (a) the final product is the same (7-deoxy daunomycinone); (b) the reduction yield is the same [2.6 +/- 0.2) x 10(-7) mol.J-1); (c) H2O2 reacts with hydroquinone daunorubicin giving back the drug in a one-step reaction. However 7-deoxy daunomycinone precipitation was so slow that this aglycone could be reduced by COO- free radicals giving its hydroquinone form, which cannot be observed without DNA. This shows that the whole 4-electron reduction process takes place in DNA. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Anthracycline antitumour agents. A review of physicochemical, analytical and stability properties

A review of physicochemical and analytical properties of anthracycline antitumour agents is presented. The following subjects are discussed: protolytic equilibria, partition and partition coefficients, self-association, adsorptive properties, metal complexation, spectroscopy and chromatography. Furthermore, the stability of anthracyclines in solutions, in pharmaceutical preparations and in biological media is discussed.

Redox activities of antitumor anthracyclines determined by microsomal oxygen consumption and assays for superoxide anion and hydroxyl radical generation

To explore the structural characteristics of various derivatives of the anticancer drugs, doxorubicin and daunorubicin, for exhibiting redox activities believed to be associated with toxic radical production, we tested over fifty derivatives in a rapid screening procedure for augmenting oxygen consumption by rat liver microsomes. Measurement of parent drug disappearance and of metabolite appearance for fourteen anthracyclines with a broad range of activities for augmenting oxygen consumption indicated that a single reaction, conversion to the 7-deoxyaglycone, occurred. Multiple tests of selected compounds showed that the liver microsome system exhibited saturation kinetics, and calculated values of Vmax/Km gave the same relative order of activities as did the screening test. The liver microsome system was not found to be stereoselective. Measurements of the abilities of a number of the anthracycline derivatives after chemical activation by reduction with sodium borohydride to convert oxygen to superoxide anion, or to the hydroxyl radical, were also made. The reactivities of the anthracyclines in these latter two assays were positively related to the activities obtained in the rat liver microsome screening test, suggesting that all three tests were measuring various steps in the sequence from anthracycline semiquinone radical formation through oxygen activation and radical formation. Superoxide anion generation from chemically reduced anthracyclines was inhibited by the addition of calf thymus DNA, and the extent of inhibition was positively correlated with the measured DNA association constants of the anthracyclines. However, the DNA association constants were unrelated to superoxide anion generation in the absence of DNA or to the augmentation of oxygen consumption in liver microsomes. Half-wave potentials were negatively correlated with both the results of the microsomal oxygen consumption test and the production of superoxide anion in the chemical test system. No relationships were discerned among the DNA association constants, half-wave potentials, or reoxidizabilities of the anthracyclines tested. Comparisons of the relatively low activities of certain of the anthracyclines in the biochemical and chemical tests for oxygen activation with their known high activities against murine tumors in vivo, but low cardiotoxicities in animal model systems, suggest that the separation of the cytotoxic antitumor and cardiotoxic actions of these derivatives may have been achieved.

Non-enzymic lipid peroxidation in microsomes and microsomal phospholipids induced by anthracyclines

The stimulation of non-enzymic lipid peroxidation by doxorubicin, daunorubicin and 7 derivatives was investigated in extracted microsomal phospholipids and in intact microsomes. Evidence was obtained for the necessity of a free amino-sugar moiety for a stimulative effect on lipid peroxidation. Binding of anthracyclines to RNA (which is present in microsomes) was inhibitory towards stimulation. Drugs that stimulated lipid peroxidation in a non-enzymic system with extracted phospholipids also were stimulative in an enzymic, NADPH-dependent, microsomal system. They were not always effective in intact microsomes without the enzymic system. The role of the enzymic system in the stimulation of anthracycline induced lipid peroxidation is thought to be the reduction of iron ions rather than the stimulation of oxygen radical production via the anthracyclines.

Free radical damage to deoxyribose by anthracycline, aureolic acid and aminoquinone antitumour antibiotics. An essential requirement for iron, semiquinones and hydrogen peroxide

Anthracycline, aureolic acid and aminoquinone antitumour antibiotics damage deoxyribose in cell-free systems when reduced in air by the enzyme ferredoxin reductase. Damage to deoxyribose is inhibited by the iron chelator desferrioxamine, the copper-containing protein caeruloplasmin and catalase but not by superoxide dismutase. Scavengers of the hydroxyl radical such as formate, butan-1-ol, ethanol and benzoate do not offer much protection, whereas mannitol and thiourea do. These findings point to a site-specific Fenton reaction in which the drug semiquinones reduce complexed iron and dioxygen leading to the formation of hydrogen peroxide and a ferrous complex.

Phenol oxidation product(s), formed by a peroxidase reaction, that bind to DNA

Phenol oxidation by horseradish peroxidase/H2O2 initially results in p,p'-biphenol and o.o'-biphenol formation and subsequently results in polymer formation. o,o'-Biphenol is the major product formed, but it is rapidly oxidized to the polymer, particularly in the presence of phenol. p,p'-Biphenol is very rapidly oxidized to p,p'-biphenoquinone which can also be involved in polymer formation. Extensive binding of 14C-phenol oxidation products to DNA occurs if the DNA is present in the reaction mixture. However, enzymic hydrolysis of DNA releases the bound polymers. p,p'-Biphenol, however, did not bind to DNA following peroxidase-catalysed oxidation, but o,o'-biphenol readily binds to DNA following peroxidase-catalysed oxidation. Enzymic hydrolysis of the oxidized o,o'-biphenol-bound DNA also resulted in the release of the polymers.