Nucleoside transporter proteins: emerging targets for drug discovery

FUN26 (function unknown now 26) protein from saccharomyces cerevisiae is a broad selectivity, high affinity, nucleoside and nucleobase transporter

Equilibrative nucleoside transporters (ENTs) are polytopic integral membrane proteins that transport nucleosides and, to a lesser extent, nucleobases across cell membranes. ENTs modulate efficacy for a range of human therapeutics and function in a diffusion-controlled bidirectional manner. A detailed understanding of ENT function at the molecular level has remained elusive. FUN26 (function unknown now 26) is a putative ENT homolog from S. cerevisiae that is expressed in vacuole membranes. In the present system, proteoliposome studies of purified FUN26 demonstrate robust nucleoside and nucleobase uptake into the luminal volume for a broad range of substrates. This transport activity is sensitive to nucleoside modifications in the C(2')- and C(5')-positions on the ribose sugar and is not stimulated by a membrane pH differential. [(3)H]Adenine nucleobase transport efficiency is increased ∼4-fold relative to nucleosides tested with no observed [(3)H]adenosine or [(3)H]UTP transport. FUN26 mutational studies identified residues that disrupt (G463A or G216A) or modulate (F249I or L390A) transporter function. These results demonstrate that FUN26 has a unique substrate transport profile relative to known ENT family members and that a purified ENT can be reconstituted in proteoliposomes for functional characterization in a defined system.

Mutation of Trp29 of human equilibrative nucleoside transporter 1 alters affinity for coronary vasodilator drugs and nucleoside selectivity

hENT1 (human equilibrative nucleoside transporter 1) is inhibited by nanomolar concentrations of various structurally distinct coronary vasodilator drugs, including dipyridamole, dilazep, draflazine, soluflazine and NBMPR (nitrobenzylmercaptopurine ribonucleoside). When a library of randomly mutated hENT1 cDNAs was screened using a yeast-based functional complementation assay for resistance to dilazep, a clone containing the W29G mutation was identified. Multiple sequence alignments revealed that this residue was highly conserved. Mutations at Trp29 were generated and tested for adenosine transport activity and inhibitor sensitivity. Trp29 mutations significantly reduced the apparent V(max) and/or increased the apparent K(m) values for adenosine transport. Trp29 mutations increased the IC50 values for hENT1 inhibition by dipyridamole, dilazep, NBMPR, soluflazine and draflazine. NBMPR and soluflazine displayed remarkably similar trends, with large aromatic substitutions at residue 29 resulting in the lowest IC50 values, suggesting that both drugs could interact via ring-stacking interactions with Trp29. The W29T mutant displayed a selective loss of pyrimidine nucleoside transport activity, which contrasts with the previously identified L442I mutant that displayed a selective loss of purine nucleoside transport. W29T, L442I and the double mutant W29T/L442I were characterized kinetically for nucleoside transport activity. A helical wheel projection of TM (transmembrane segment) 1 suggests that Trp29 is positioned close to Met33, implicated previously in nucleoside and inhibitor recognition, and that both residues line the permeant translocation pathway. The data also suggest that Trp29 forms part of, or lies close to, the binding sites for dipyridamole, dilazep, NBMPR, soluflazine and draflazine.

The role of nucleoside transporters in cancer chemotherapy with nucleoside drugs

Nucleoside analogs are important components of treatment regimens for various malignancies. Nucleoside-specific membrane transporters mediate plasma membrane permeation of physiologic nucleosides and most nucleoside analogs, for which the initial event is cellular conversion of nucleosides to active agents. Understanding of the roles of nucleoside transporters in nucleoside drug toxicity and resistance will provide opportunities for potentiating anticancer efficacy and avoiding resistance. Because transportability is a possible determinant of toxicity and resistance of many nucleoside analogs, nucleoside transporter abundance might be a prognostic marker to assess drug resistance. Elucidation of the structural determinants of nucleoside analogs for interaction with transporter proteins as well as the structural features of transporter proteins required for permeant interaction and translocation will lead to "transportability guidelines" for the rational design and therapeutic application of nucleoside analogs as anticancer drugs. It should eventually be possible to develop clinical assays that predict sensitivity and/or resistance to nucleoside anti-cancer drugs and thus to identify those patient populations that will most likely benefit from optimal nucleoside analog treatments. This review discusses recent results from structure/function studies of human nucleoside transporters, the role of nucleoside transport processes in the cytotoxicity and resistance of several anticancer nucleoside analogs and strategies to improve the nucleoside transporter-related anticancer effects of nucleoside analogs.

Characterization of the transport mechanism and permeant binding profile of the uridine permease Fui1p of Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The uptake of Urd into the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is mediated by Fui1p, a Urd-specific nucleoside transporter encoded by the FUI1 gene and a member of the yeast Fur permease family, which also includes the uracil, allantoin, and thiamine permeases. When Fui1p was produced in a double-permease knock-out strain (fur4Deltafui1Delta) of yeast, Urd uptake was stimulated at acidic pH and sensitive to the protonophore carbonyl cyanide m-chlorophenylhydrazone. Electrophysiological analysis of recombinant Fui1p produced in Xenopus oocytes demonstrated that Fui1p-mediated Urd uptake was dependent on proton cotransport with a 1:1 stoichiometry. Mutagenesis analysis of three charged amino acids (Glu(259), Lys(288), and Asp(474) in putative transmembrane segments 3, 4, and 7, respectively) revealed that only Lys(288) was required for maintaining high Urd transport efficiency. Analysis of binding energies between Fui1p and different Urd analogs indicated that Fuip1 interacted with C(3')-OH, C(2')-OH, C(5)-H, and N(3)-H of Urd. Fui1p-mediated transport of Urd was inhibited by analogs with modifications at C-5', but was not inhibited significantly by analogs with modifications at C-3', C-5, and N-3 or inversions of configuration at C-2' and C-3'. This characterization of Fui1p contributes to the emerging knowledge of the structure and function of the Fur family of permeases, including the Fui1p orthologs of pathogenic fungi.

Identification and Mutational Analysis of Amino Acid Residues Involved in Dipyridamole Interactions with Human and Caenorhabditis elegans Equilibrative Nucleoside Transporters

The equilibrative nucleoside transporters, hENT1 and CeENT1 from humans and Caenorhabditis elegans, respectively, are inhibited by nanomolar concentrations of dipyridamole and share a common 11-transmembrane helix (TM) topology. Random mutagenesis and screening by functional complementation in yeast for clones with reduced sensitivities to dipyridamole yielded mutations at Ile429 in TM 11 of CeENT1 and Met33 in TM 1 of hENT1. Mutational analysis of the corresponding residues of both proteins suggested important roles for these residues in competitive inhibition of hENT1 and CeENT1 by dipyridamole. To verify the roles of these residues in dipyridamole interactions, hENT2, which naturally exhibits low dipyridamole sensitivity, was mutated to contain side chains favorable for high affinity dipyridamole binding (i.e. a Met at the TM 1 and/or an Ile at the TM 11 positions). The single mutants exhibited increased hENT2 sensitivity to inhibition by dipyridamole, and the double mutant was the most sensitive, with an IC50 value that was only 2% of that of wild type. Functional analysis of the TM 1 and 11 mutants of hENT1 and CeENT1 revealed that Ala and Thr in the TM 1 and 11 positions, respectively, impaired uridine and adenosine transport and that Leu442 of hENT1 was involved in permeant selectivity. Mechanistic and structural models of dipyridamole interactions with the TM 1 and 11 residues are proposed. This study demonstrated that the corresponding residues in TMs 1 and 11 of hENT1, hENT2, and CeENT1 are important for dipyridamole interactions and nucleoside transport.

Uridine recognition motifs of human equilibrative nucleoside transporters 1 and 2 produced in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The sugar moiety of nucleosides has been shown to play a major role in permeant-transporter interaction with human equilibrative nucleoside transporters 1 and 2 (hENT1 and hENT2). To better understand the structural requirements for interactions with hENT1 and hENT2, a series of uridine analogs with sugar modifications were subjected to an assay that tested their abilities to inhibit [3H]uridine transport mediated by recombinant hENT1 and hENT2 produced in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. hENT1 displayed higher affinity for uridine than hENT2. Both transporters barely tolerated modifications or inversion of configuration at C(3'). The C(2')-OH at uridine was a structural determinant for uridine-hENT1, but not for uridine-hENT2, interactions. Both transporters were sensitive to modifications at C(5') and hENT2 displayed more tolerance to removal of C(5')-OH than hENT1; addition of an O-methyl group at C(5') greatly reduced interaction with either hENT1 or hENT2. The changes in binding energies between transporter proteins and the different uridine analogs suggested that hENT1 formed strong interactions with C(3')-OH and moderate interactions with C(2')-OH and C(5')-OH of uridine, whereas hENT2 formed strong interactions with C(3')-OH, weak interactions with C(5')-OH, and no interaction with C(2')-OH.

Nucleoside anticancer drugs: the role of nucleoside transporters in resistance to cancer chemotherapy

The clinical efficacy of anticancer nucleoside drugs depends on a complex interplay of transporters mediating entry of nucleoside drugs into cells, efflux mechanisms that remove drugs from intracellular compartments and cellular metabolism to active metabolites. Nucleoside transporters (NTs) are important determinants for salvage of preformed nucleosides and mediated uptake of antimetabolite nucleoside drugs into target cells. The focus of this review is the two families of human nucleoside transporters (hENTs, hCNTs) and their role in transport of cytotoxic chemotherapeutic nucleoside drugs. Resistance to anticancer nucleoside drugs is a major clinical problem in which NTs have been implicated. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in drug transporters may contribute to interindividual variation in response to nucleoside drugs. In this review, we give an overview of the functional and molecular characteristics of human NTs and their potential role in resistance to nucleoside drugs and discuss the potential use of genetic polymorphism analyses for NTs to address drug resistance.

Comparison of the interaction of uridine, cytidine, and other pyrimidine nucleoside analogues with recombinant human equilibrative nucleoside transporter 2 (hENT2) produced in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The human equilibrative nucleoside transporters I and 2 (hENT1, hENT2) share 50% amino acid identity and exhibit broad selectivities, accepting purine and pyrimidine nucleosides as permeants. The permeant selectivity of hENT2 is less well understood because of the low abundance of the native transporter in cells amenable to functional analysis. Recent studies of hENT2 produced in recombinant form in functional expression systems have shown that it differs from hENT1 in that it transports nucleobases. To further understand the structural requirements for permeant interaction with hENT2, we compared the relative abilities of uridine, cytidine, and their analogues to inhibit transport of [3H]uridine by recombinant hENT1 and hENT2 produced in yeast. hENT1 and hENT2 tolerated halogen modification at the 5 position of the base and the 2' and 5' positions of the ribose moieties of uridine whereas removal of the hydroxyl group at the 3' position of the ribose moiety of uridine eliminated interaction with both transporters. hENT2 displayed a lower ability, compared with hENT1, to interact with cytidine and cytidine analogues, suggesting a low tolerance for the presence of the amino group at the 4 position of the base.

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.

Differential expression of human equilibrative nucleoside transporter 1 (hENT1) protein in the Reed-Sternberg cells of Hodgkin's disease

Gemcitabine is a cytotoxic nucleoside analog with activity in relapsing/refractory Hodgkin's disease (HD). Because gemcitabine is hydrophilic, it requires plasma membrane nucleoside transporter proteins to access intracellular targets. The most abundant and widely distributed transporter in human cells is human equilibrative nucleoside transporter 1 (hENT1). Because our prior studies showed that a deficiency in hENT1 confers high-level resistance to gemcitabine toxicity in vitro, we developed an immunohistochemical method to assess the hENT1 abundance of cells in tumor tissue. We now report the application of this method for visualizing the hENT1 protein abundance in the plasma membranes of Reed-Sternberg cells in lymph nodes of HD patients. Frozen sections of 30 lymph nodes were stained with monoclonal antibodies (mAb 10D7G2) raised against a synthetic peptide comprised of residues 254-271 from the large intracellular loop of hENT1 and staining intensity was scored on a 0-4 + scale. hENT1-staining intensity varied among HD lymph node samples (score/n; 0/8; 1/10; 2/9; 3/3; 4/0) and suggested that at least 60% of the tumors appeared hENT1 deficient. Because Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is often associated with HD, staining for Epstein-Barr early RNA was also examined. Although 9/30 patients tested positive for EBV, there was no correlation with hENT1 staining. hENT1-staining intensities were positively correlated with age of the patient but were independent of other clinical, laboratory or pathology features (tumor stage, histologic subtype, presence of B symptoms, staining for CD15 or CD30, serum biochemistry, disease free survival, and overall survival). We conclude that, because hENT1 deficiency has been previously related to nucleoside-drug resistance, immunohistochemical staining for hENT1 warrants evaluation as a predictive tool for guiding the appropriate use of gemcitabine in the treatment of HD.

Mutation of residue 33 of human equilibrative nucleoside transporters 1 and 2 alters sensitivity to inhibition of transport by dilazep and dipyridamole

Human equilibrative nucleoside transporters (hENT) 1 and 2 differ in that hENT1 is inhibited by nanomolar concentrations of dipyridamole and dilazep, whereas hENT2 is 2 and 3 orders of magnitude less sensitive, respectively. When a yeast expression plasmid containing the hENT1 cDNA was randomly mutated and screened by phenotypic complementation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae to identify mutants with reduced sensitivity to dilazep, clones with a point mutation that converted Met33 to Ile (hENT1-M33I) were obtained. Characterization of the mutant protein in S. cerevisiae and Xenopus laevis oocytes revealed that the mutant had less than one-tenth the sensitivity to dilazep and dipyridamole than wild type hENT1, with no change in nitrobenzylmercaptopurine ribonucleoside (NBMPR) sensitivity or apparent uridine affinity. To determine whether the reciprocal mutation in hENT2 (Ile33 to Met) also altered sensitivity to dilazep and dipyridamole, hENT2-I33M was created by site-directed mutagenesis. Although the resulting mutant (hENT2-I33M) displayed >10-fold higher dilazep and dipyridamole sensitivity and >8-fold higher uridine affinity compared with wild type hENT2, it retained insensitivity to NBMPR. These data established that mutation of residue 33 (Met versus Ile) of hENT1 and hENT2 altered the dilazep and dipyridamole sensitivities in both proteins, suggesting that a common region of inhibitor interaction has been identified.