Benzamide-DNA interactions: deductions from binding, enzyme kinetics and from X-ray structural analysis of a 9-ethyladenine-benzamide adduct

Calcium-dependent modulation of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 alters cellular metabolism and DNA repair

After genotoxic stress poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 (PARP-1) can be hyperactivated, causing (ADP-ribosyl)ation of nuclear proteins (including itself), resulting in NAD(+) and ATP depletion and cell death. Mechanisms of PARP-1-mediated cell death and downstream proteolysis remain enigmatic. beta-lapachone (beta-lap) is the first chemotherapeutic agent to elicit a Ca(2+)-mediated cell death by PARP-1 hyperactivation at clinically relevant doses in cancer cells expressing elevated NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1) levels. Beta-lap induces the generation of NQO1-dependent reactive oxygen species (ROS), DNA breaks, and triggers Ca(2+)-dependent gamma-H2AX formation and PARP-1 hyperactivation. Subsequent NAD(+) and ATP losses suppress DNA repair and cause cell death. Reduction of PARP-1 activity or Ca(2+) chelation protects cells. Interestingly, Ca(2+) chelation abrogates hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)), but not N-Methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG)-induced PARP-1 hyperactivation and cell death. Thus, Ca(2+) appears to be an important co-factor in PARP-1 hyperactivation after ROS-induced DNA damage, which alters cellular metabolism and DNA repair.

Benzamide prevention of ultraviolet radiation-induced transformation as measured by anchorage-independent growth and the absence of correlation with thymidine dimer formation and DNA repair

Synchronized human fibroblasts were exposed in early S phase to increasing doses of ultraviolet (UV) irradiation in the presence and absence of an antitransforming drug, benzamide. Cellular survival, initial thymidine dimer formation and its repair, and cellular phenotypic transformation were simultaneously monitored in the presence and absence of 1 mM externally added benzamide that reaches 8 to 15 microM intracellular levels. Cellular transformation as measured by an expression of anchorage-independent growth was inhibited by nontoxic doses of benzamide. Antitransforming action of benzamide is confined to low intracellular drug concentrations, which in the case of benzamide is in the 4-9 microM range. Because of the lack of effect of benzamide on the formation of UV-induced thymidine dimers and the specific repair of these dimers, these results suggest that the processes of thymidine dimer formation and its repair are not involved in the mode of action of benzamide that influences the expression of a transformed phenotype with low malignant vigor.