Thymidylate synthetase-deficient mouse FM3A mammary carcinoma cell line as a tool for studying the thymidine salvage pathway and the incorporation of thymidine analogues into host cell DNA

High concentrations of NaCl induce cell swelling leading to senescence in human cells

Cell swelling and retardation in DNA replication are always observed in senescent cells. When DNA replication is slowed down with RNA and protein syntheses unchanged in proliferating cells, it causes a phenomenon known as unbalanced growth. The purpose of this study is to assess the role of cell swelling in unbalanced growth in terms of senescence and investigate the mechanism underlying this phenomenon. We tried to induce cell swelling with minimum damage to cells in this study. We perturbed the osmoregulatory functions to induce cell swelling under hypotonic and hypertonic conditions in normal human fibroblasts. Addition of excess NaCl was found to induce significant cell and nuclear swelling in dose- and time-dependent manners. Excess NaCl immediately retarded DNA replication, accumulated cells at G1 phase of the cell cycle, and eventually deprived division potential of the cells. Such cells showed typical senescent cell shape followed by expression of the typical senescence-associated genes. Excess NaCl also activated ERK1/2, p38, and JNK of the mitogen activated protein kinase family. Addition of U0126, an inhibitor of ERK1/2, prevented appearance of senescent features induced by excess NaCl. These results suggest that hypertonic conditions induce cell swelling due to unbalanced growth, thereby leading to cellular senescence.

Enhanced thymidine uptake causes the lowered thymidine requirement of D. discoideum auxotroph HPS 401

Dictyostelium discoideum strain HPS 401 contains a spontaneous mutation that lowers the amount of thymidine required for cell growth relative to that of the auxotrophic parental strain HPS 400. Growth studies in defined medium show that as little as 8 micrograms thymidine/ml supports maximal growth of HPS 401, whereas 50 micrograms/ml is required by HPS 400. In contrast, both strains require over 40 micrograms thymidylate/ml to achieve maximal growth. HPS 401 exhibits thymidineless death when grown without thymidine; relative viability decreases to less than 0.01% after 190 h incubation. Assays for enzymes related to thymidine metabolism reveal that none of the strains tested (HPS 401, HPS 400, and prototrophic HPS 83 cells) contain detectable thymidine phosphorylase activity and that the specific activity of thymidine kinase is the same in these three strains. Thin-layer chromatography of extracts from cells grown on radiolabeled thymidine shows that there is no detectable conversion of thymidine to thymine in any of these strains. These analyses show that HPS 401 has rapid intracellular accumulation of thymidine, while only slight uptake is observed with HPS 400 or wild-type strains. HPS 401 also shows greater uptake of uridine in comparison to HPS 400 and wild-type cells. Thymidylate uptake was the same for all three strains. Thus, the mutation giving rise to the HPS 401 phenotype selectively increases the uptake of thymidine into the cell, where it can be efficiently utilized for DNA synthesis by the "salvage" pathways of nucleotide metabolism.

Investigations on the anti-HIV activity of 2',3'-dideoxyadenosine analogues with modifications in either the pentose or purine moiety. Potent and selective anti-HIV activity of 2,6-diaminopurine 2',3'-dideoxyriboside

Several 2',3'-dideoxyadenosine analogues with modifications in either the ribose or purine moiety were evaluated for their inhibitory effects on the replication of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in MT-4 cell cultures. The 2',3'-dideoxyriboside of 2,6-diaminopurine (ddDAPR) inhibited HIV antigen expression and HIV-induced cytopathogenicity at a 50% effective dose of 2.4-3.8 microM, as compared to 3-6 microM for 2',3'-dideoxyadenosine (ddAdo), whereas 50% inhibition of MT-4 cell viability was noted only at a concentration of 477 and 889 microM, respectively. Both ddDAPR and ddAdo were only weakly inhibitory to the proliferation of a number of T-lymphoblast and T-lymphocyte cell lines, pointing to the selectivity of these compounds as anti-HIV agents. In contrast to ddAdo, ddDAPR was found to be a poor substrate for adenosine deaminase, which may be advantageous from a chemotherapeutic viewpoint. Substitution of an azido or fluoro group at the 2' and 3'-position of the ribose moiety in either "up" or "down" configurations resulted in a decrease of the anti-HIV potency and selectivity of ddAdo. In addition to ddDAPR other purine-modified ddAdo analogues, i.e. several pyrrolo[2,3-d]pyrimidine 2',3'-dideoxynucleosides, were investigated for their anti-HIV activity, but none of these derivatives proved as potent or selective as ddDAPR.

Improved high-affinity monoclonal antibody to iododeoxyuridine

Three monoclonal antibodies (Mabs), IU-1, IU-4, and B-44 were evaluated in enzyme immunoassays (ELISA) and by flow cytometry for their abilities to recognize bromodeoxyuridine (BrdUrd)- and iododeoxyuridine (IdUrd)-substituted DNA's, nucleotides, and nucleosides. IU-4 is a new Mab, derived from mice immunized with 5-iodo-2'-deoxyuridine-5'-monophosphate (IdUMP) conjugated (IdUMP) conjugated through the phosphate group to albumin. This immunogen was selected to resemble IdUMP in DNA. In competition ELISA assays, IU-4 prefers IdUrd to BrdUrd and prefers halogenated nucleotides over the corresponding nucleosides. In both ELISA and flow analysis, IU-4 recognizes IdUrd in DNA at substitution frequencies at least as low as one IdUrd one per 1,000 normal bases. The high affinity of IU-4 for IdUrd-DNA contrasts with IU-1 and B-44, which show a strong binding dependency on the frequency of base substitution and require DNA that is essentially fully substituted with BrdUrd for binding in both flow and ELISA assays. The high affinity of IU-4 for IdUrd in DNA and its independence of IdUrd residue spacing make it a superior reagent for the quantitative labeling of halogenated thymidine analogues in whole cells.

Potent and selective anti-HTLV-III/LAV activity of 2',3'-dideoxycytidinene, the 2',3'-unsaturated derivative of 2',3'-dideoxycytidine

2',3'-Dideoxycytidinene (ddeCyd), the 2',3'-unsaturated derivative of 2',3'-dideoxycytidine (ddCyd) is, like ddCyd itself, a potent and selective inhibitor of HTLV-III/LAV in vitro. This conclusion is based on the relatively high ratio of effective antiviral dose (0.3 microM) versus cell growth inhibitory concentration (20-35 microM) and the lack of any appreciable inhibitory activity against a series of non-oncogenic RNA and DNA viruses. Both compounds were considerably more inhibitory to human lymphoid cell lines than human nonlymphoid or murine cell lines. They were highly dependent on prior activation by deoxycytidine kinase to exert their anti-HTLV-III/LAV and cytostatic effects. In contrast with ddCyd, ddeCyd lost part of its anti-retrovirus effect upon prolonged incubation (10 days) with the virus-infected cells in culture.

Reversible permeabilization of lymphocytes destroys the incorporation of deoxythymidine but not of deoxycytidine

The total uptake, phosphorylation and incorporation of thymidine (dThd) and deoxycytidine (dCyd) were compared in intact and reversibly permeabilized human tonsillar lymphocytes. The total uptake of [3H]dThd was lower than that of [5-3H]dCyd, but almost all of [3H]dThd was incorporated into DNA. However, the main part of [5-3H]dCyd taken up by the lymphocytes was found in the pool as phosphorylated nucleoside (55%), and only a smaller part (13%) was incorporated into DNA. Phosphorylated nucleosides were determined by DEAE-cellulose sheets in the ethanol-soluble fraction of the cells. The reversible permeabilization of lymphocytes by Dextran T-150 destroys totally the [3H]dThd incorporation, while [5-3H]dCyd incorporation decreased only to 60% of intact cells. During permeabilization the phosphorylation of both nucleosides increased severalfold. After permeabilization all [3H]dThd was in dTMP form, while [5-3H]dCyd was also found in dCDP (3%) and dCTP (38%) form. In the meanwhile, 22% of thymidine kinase, 63% of deoxycytidine kinase and 98% of DNA polymerase activity were measured in permeabilized cells as compared to intact cells. The results suggest different relationships between the lymphocyte plasma membrane and the salvage pathways of the two pyrimidine nucleosides.

Selective in vitro and in vivo activities of 5-(2-haloalkyl)pyrimidine nucleoside analogs, particularly 5-(2-chloroethyl)-2'-deoxyuridine, against herpes simplex virus

5-(2-Chloroethyl)-2'-deoxyuridine (CEDU), 5-(3-chloropropyl)-2'-deoxyuridine (CPDU), and 5-(2-chloroethyl)-2'-deoxycytidine (CEDC) were evaluated for activity against herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) and HSV-2 in vitro. Their MICs for HSV-1 in primary rabbit kidney cell cultures were 0.15, 0.20, and 0.60 micrograms/ml, respectively; their MICs for HSV-2 were about 10-fold higher. When tested in parallel, the reference compounds 5-ethyl-2'-deoxyuridine, 5-iodo-2'-deoxyuridine, acyclovir, and (E)-5-(2-bromovinyl)-2'-deoxyuridine (BVDU) gave MICs of 0.20, 0.18, 0.04, and 0.015 micrograms/ml, respectively. The antiviral indexes of CEDU, CPDU, and CEDC, as determined by the ratio of the minimum toxic dose for the normal host cell to the minimum inhibitory dose for HSV-1, were about 2,000, 100, and greater than or equal to 400, respectively. The three 5-(2-haloalkyl)pyrimidine derivatives were further evaluated for their antiviral effects in vivo. In hairless mice, CEDU suppressed the development of cutaneous HSV-1 lesions, and associated mortality, when applied topically at a concentration as low as 0.1%. For the treatment of systemic HSV-1 infection in Naval Medical Research Institute mice, a single oral dose per day of 5 mg of CEDU per kg achieved a significant reduction in the mortality rate. Against HSV-1 encephalitis, CEDU exerted a significant protective effect at a dosage of 50 mg/kg per day when administered intraperitoneally. CEDU was effective against systemic HSV-1 infection and HSV-1 encephalitis in mice at a 5- to 15-fold-lower dose than either BVDU or acyclovir. When given orally, CPDU and CEDC were considerably less active than CEDU against systemic HSV-1 infection.

Murine mammary FM3A carcinoma cells transformed with the herpes simplex virus type 1 thymidine kinase gene are highly sensitive to the growth-inhibitory properties of (E)-5-(2-bromovinyl)-2'-deoxyuridine and related compounds

Murine mammary carcinoma (FM3A TK-/HSV-1 TK+) cells, which are thymidine kinase (TK)-deficient but have been transformed with the herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) TK gene are inhibited in their growth by (E)-5-(2-bromovinyl)-2'-deoxyuridine (BVDU), (E)-5-(2-iodovinyl)-2'-deoxyuridine (IVDU) and (E)-5-(2-bromovinyl)-2'-deoxycytidine (BVDC) at 0.5, 0.5 and 0.8 ng/ml, respectively; i.e., a concentration 5000 to 20 000-fold lower than that required to inhibit the growth of the corresponding wild-type FM3A/0 cells. Hence, transformation of tumor cells with the HSV-1 TK gene makes them particularly sensitive to the cytostatic action of BVDU and related compounds.

Thymidylate synthetase-positive and -negative murine mammary FM3A carcinoma cells as a useful system for detecting thymidylate synthetase inhibitors

The murine mammary FM3A/O and the thymidylate (dTMP) synthetase-deficient FM3A/TS- carcinoma cell lines can be considered as a novel and useful test system for the detection of nucleoside analogues which are directly aimed at the thymidylate synthetase. These compounds should be inhibitory for FM3A/O but not for FM3A/TS- cells, and their inhibitory effects on FM3A/O cell growth should be readily reversed by exogenous dThd within the concentration range of 5-20 microM.