Cell cycle related change of Ara-C transport in HL-60 cells after differentiation induction

Molecular biology and regulation of nucleoside and nucleobase transporter proteins in eukaryotes and prokaryotes

The molecular cloning of cDNAs encoding nucleoside transporter proteins has greatly advanced understanding of how nucleoside permeants are translocated across cell membranes. The nucleoside transporter proteins identified thus far have been categorized into five distinct superfamilies. Two of these superfamilies, the equilibrative and concentrative nucleoside transporters, have human members and these will be examined in depth in this review. The human equilibrative nucleoside transporters translocate nucleosides and nucleobases bidirectionally down their concentration gradients and are important in the uptake of anticancer and antiviral nucleoside drugs. The human concentrative nucleoside transporters cotranslocate nucleosides and sodium unidirectionally against the nucleoside concentration gradients and play a vital role in certain tissues. The regulation of nucleoside and nucleobase transporters is being studied more intensely now that more tools are available. This review provides an overview of recent advances in the molecular biology and regulation of the nucleoside and nucleobase transporters.

Decrease in equilibrative uridine transport during monocytic differentiation of HL-60 leukaemia: involvement of protein kinase C

The dose-response curves for the inhibition of equilibrative uridine transport by dilazep, dipyridamole and nitrobenzylthioinosine (NBMPR) in undifferentiated HL-60 cells were biphasic. Some 70% of the transport activity was inhibited with IC50 values of 0.7, 1 and 7 nM respectively. No inhibition of the remaining 30% of transport activity was observed until the dilazep, dipyridamole and NBMPR concentrations exceeded 1, 0.1 and 3 microM respectively. Exposure to phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) for 48 h, to induce monocytic differentiation, caused a 20-fold decrease in Vmax. of both NBMPR-sensitive and NBMPR-insensitive equilibrative uridine transport. The decrease in NBMPR-sensitive uridine transport induced by PMA corresponded to a decrease in NBMPR binding sites. A 30% decrease in specific NBMPR binding sites occurred within 6 h of PMA exposure, and could be prevented by uridine and thymidine at concentrations as low as 100 microM, and by staurosporine at 40 nM. However, the protective effects of these compounds diminished with prolonged PMA exposure. No protection was observed with uracil. Exogenous protein kinase C (PKC) in the presence of ATP and PMA decreased the number of specific NBMPR-binding sites in purified HL-60 cell plasma membranes. These results suggest that a PKC-induced conformational change in substrate-binding/transporting site may be responsible for the decrease in NBMPR-sensitive nucleoside transport during PMA-induced monocytic differentiation of HL-60 cells.

Metabolism and toxicity of electroporated 1-beta-D-arabinofuranosylcytosine triphosphate in a human leukemia cell line

The metabolism and toxicity of 1-beta-D-arabinofuranosylcytosine triphosphate (ara-CTP) directly injected into cells by electroporation was studied in human leukemia cell lines. The intracellular accumulation of ara-CTP (ara-CTP-Ep) was dependent on the cell type, extracellular ara-CTP concentration and pulse voltage on electroporation. In a promyelocytic leukemia cell line, HL-60, ara-CTP-Ep revealed a cytotoxic effect in a dose-dependent manner, although electroporation alone did not have any significant toxicity. Furthermore, simultaneous injection of dCTP, or continuous exposure to deoxycytidine, but not to other deoxyribonucleosides, immediately after electroporation rescued the cells from the toxicity of ara-CTP-Ep. The degradation of ara-CTP-Ep consisted of an early rapid phase followed by a slower phase with a half life of 1.5 h. The addition of dipyridamole (10 microM), an inhibitor of nucleoside transport, retarded this degradation process. These data indicate that transfer of ara-CTP by electroporation is a useful method for the study of ara-CTP metabolism.

Biochemical basis of the prevention of 6-thiopurine toxicity by the nucleobases, hypoxanthine and adenine

Co-incubation of human leukemia cell lines with naturally occurring nucleobases (hypoxanthine or adenine) significantly prevented the cytotoxic activity of 6-thiopurines. Extracellular hypoxanthine decreased the transport of 6-mercaptopurine into cells, but adenine had no significant effect. However, intracellular thioinosine monophosphate accumulation in the presence of 10 microM, 6-mercaptopurine was reduced to below 1% or 10% of that of the controls when 50 microM hypoxanthine or adenine was added, respectively. Finally, in adenine phosphoribosyl transferase deficient mutants, adenine provided no protective effect against 6-thiopurines, whereas hypoxanthine retained its modulating activity. These data suggest that the nucleobases compete with 6-thiopurines for the ribose-phosphate donor, 5'-phosphoribosyl-1-pyrophosphate, thus preventing the formation of active metabolites of 6-thiopurines.