Substituted Purine Analogues Define a Novel Structural Class of Catalytic Topoisomerase II Inhibitors

By screening 1,990 compounds from the National Cancer Institute diversity set library against human topoisomerase IIalpha, we identified a novel catalytic topoisomerase II inhibitor NSC35866, a S6-substituted analogue of thioguanine. In addition to inhibiting the DNA strand passage reaction of human topoisomerase IIalpha, NSC35866 also inhibited its ATPase reaction. NSC35866 primarily inhibited DNA-stimulated ATPase activity, whereas DNA-independent ATPase activity was less sensitive to inhibition. We compared the mode of topoisomerase II ATPase inhibition induced by NSC35866 with that of 12 other substituted purine analogues of different chemical classes. The ability of thiopurines with free SH functionalities to inhibit topoisomerase II ATPase activity was completely abolished by DTT, suggesting that these thiopurines inhibit topoisomerase II ATPase activity by covalently modifying free cysteine residues. In contrast, NSC35866 as well as two O6-substituted guanine analogues, O6-benzylguanine and NU2058, could inhibit topoisomerase II ATPase activity in the presence of DTT, indicating that they have a different mechanism of inhibition. NSC35866 did not increase the level of topoisomerase II covalent cleavable complexes with DNA, indicating that it is a catalytic inhibitor and not a poison. NSC35866 was also capable of inducing a salt-stable complex of topoisomerase II on closed circular DNA. In accordance with these biochemical data, NSC35866 could antagonize etoposide-induced cytotoxicity and DNA breaks in human and murine cancer cells, confirming that NSC35866 also functions as a catalytic topoisomerase II inhibitor in cells.

Probing the role of linker substituents in bisdioxopiperazine analogs for activity against wild-type and mutant human topoisomerase II alpha

The bisdioxopiperazines are catalytic inhibitors of eukaryotic type II DNA topoisomerases capable of trapping these enzymes as a salt-stable closed-clamp complex on circular DNA. The various bisdioxopiperazine analogs differ from each other because of structural differences in the linker connecting the two dioxopiperazine rings. Although the composition of this linker region has been found to be important for potency, the structural basis for this is largely unknown. To elucidate the role of the linker region in drug action, we have analyzed the effect of different linker substituents in otherwise identical analogs by studying their interaction with wild-type and mutant human topoisomerase II alpha. Two mutations, L169I and R162Q, displayed differential sensitivity toward closely related analogs, suggesting that the linker region in these compounds plays a highly specific role in protein drug interaction. The finding that the L169I mutation, which probably represents a subtle structural change, was sufficient to confer resistance further emphases the importance of this region of the protein for bisdioxopiperazine inhibition of topoisomerase II. Comparing the sensitivity profiles of different bisdioxopiperazines against wild-type and mutant proteins with that of mitindomide, we observed a spectrum of sensitivity closely resembling that of ICRF-154, a bisdioxopiperazine with no linker substituents. We discuss the implications of these observations for the understanding of the mechanism of bisdioxopiperazine action on topoisomerase II.

Maleimide is a potent inhibitor of topoisomerase II in vitro and in vivo: a new mode of catalytic inhibition

Maleimide, N-ethyl-maleimide (NEM), and N-methyl-maleimide (NMM) were identified as potent catalytic inhibitors of purified human topoisomerase IIalpha, whereas the ring-saturated analog succinimide was completely inactive. Catalytic inhibition was not abrogated by topoisomerase II mutations that totally abolish the effect of bisdioxopiperazine compounds on catalytic inhibition, suggesting a different mode of action by these maleimides. Furthermore, in DNA cleavage assay maleimide and NEM could antagonize etoposide-induced DNA double-strand breaks. Consistently, maleimide could antagonize the effect of topoisomerase II poisons in three different in vivo assays: 1) In an alkaline elution assay maleimide protected against etoposide-induced DNA damage. 2) In a band depletion assay maleimide reduced etoposide-induced trapping of topoisomerase IIalpha and beta on DNA. 3) In a clonogenic assay maleimide antagonized the cytotoxicity of etoposide and daunorubicin on four different cell lines of human and murine origin. at-MDR cell lines with reduced nuclear topoisomerase IIalpha content are fully sensitive to maleimide, indicating that it is not a topoisomerase II poison in vivo. Our finding that topoisomerase II is sensitive to maleimide, NMM, and NEM but insensitive to succinimide demonstrates a strict requirement for the unsaturated ring bond for activity. We suggest that the observed antagonism in vitro and in vivo is caused by covalent modification of topoisomerase II cysteine residues reducing the amount of catalytically active enzyme sensitive to the action of topoisomerase II poisons.

Anticonvulsant properties of two GABA uptake inhibitors NNC 05-2045 and NNC 05-2090, not acting preferentially on GAT-1

Two novel nipecotic acid derivatives, 1-(3-(9H-Carbazol-9-yl)-1-propyl)-4-(4-methoxyphenyl)-4-piperidino l (NNC 05-2045) and 1-(3-(9H-Carbazol-9-yl)-l-propyl)-4-(2-methoxyphenyl)-4-piperidino l (NNC 05-2090) have been tested for inhibition of gamma-amino butyric acid (GABA) transporters in synaptosomal preparations of rat cerebral cortex and inferior colliculus and found to differ markedly from gabitril (tiagabine), a selective GAT-1 inhibitor. IC50 values for inhibition of [3H]GABA uptake into synaptosomes from cerebral cortex for NNC 05-2045 and NNC 05-2090 were 12 +/- 2 and 4.4 +/- 0.8 microM, respectively. In synaptosomes from inferior colliculus in the presence of 1 microM 1-(2-(((diphenylmethylene)amino)oxy)ethyl)-1,2,5,6-tetrahydro-3- pyridinecarboxylic acid (NNC 05-0711), a highly potent and selective GAT-1 inhibitor, IC50 values for inhibition of [3H]GABA uptake were 1.0 +/- 0.1 and 2.5 +/- 0.7 microM, respectively. A receptor profile showed that NNC 05-2045 has binding affinities to sigma-, alpha 1- and D2-receptors of 113, 550 and 122 nM, respectively. NNC 05-2090 displayed alpha 1- and D2-receptor affinity of 266 and 1632 nM, respectively. The anticonvulsant action of both compounds was tested in four rodent models after intra peritoneal (i.p.) injection. Both NNC 05-2090 dose-dependently inhibited sound-induced tonic and clonic convulsions in DBA/2 mice with ED50 values of 6 and 19 mumol/kg, respectively. NNC 05-2045 also antagonized sound-induced seizures in genetic epilepsy prone rats (GEP rats) with ED50 values against wild running, clonic and tonic convulsions of 33, 39 and 39 mumol/kg, respectively (NNC 05-2090 was not tested in GEP rats). Both NNC 05-2045 and NNC 05-2090 dose-dependently antagonized tonic hindlimb extension in the maximal electroshock (MES) test with ED50 values of 29 and 73 mumol/kg, respectively. In amygdala kindled rats NNC 05-2045 and NNC 05-2090 significantly (P < 0.05) reduced generalized seizure severity (seizure grade 3-5) at highest doses (72-242 mumol/kg) and NNC 05-2090 also significantly reduced afterdischarge duration at these doses (P < 0.05). These data show that inhibition of GABA uptake through non-GAT-1 transporters has different anticonvulsant effects than selective GAT-1 inhibitors (e.g. tiagabine) in that enhanced efficacy against MES and reduced efficacy against kindled seizures is observed. Although a contribution of adrenergic agonistic effects cannot be entirely ruled out, it is proposed that inhibition of GAT-3 (mouse GAT4) is primarily responsible for the anticonvulsant action of these two nipecotic acid derivatives in MES, amygdala kindled rats and in sound-induced seizures in GEP-rats and DBA/2 mice.

Analogues of carbacholine: synthesis and relationship between structure and affinity for muscarinic and nicotinic acetylcholine receptors

A series of acyclic and heterocyclic analogues of carbacholine (1) was synthesized using N-methylcarbacholine (MCC, 2), N,N-dimethylcarbacholine (DMCC, 3), and the corresponding tertiary amine (4) as leads. Whereas nicotinic acetylcholine receptor affinity was determined using [3H]nicotine as the radioactive ligand, [3H]oxotremorine-M ([3H]Oxo-M) and [3H]quinuclidinyl benzilate ([3H]QNB), in some cases supplemented with [3H]pirenzepine ([3H]PZ), were used as radioligands for muscarinic acetyicholine receptors on rat brain membranes. On the basis of receptor binding data, nicotinic/muscarinic (N/M) selectivity factors were determined, and muscarinic receptor efficacy (M agonist index) and M1 selectivity (M2/M1 index) estimated. In most cases, quaternized analogues showed higher affinity than the corresponding tertiary amines for muscarinic and, in particular, nicotinic receptor sites. Among the new compounds, N,N-diethylcarbacholine (9e) (IC50 = 0.046 microM), (S)-1-methyl-2-(N,N- dimethyl-aminocarbonyloxymethyl)pyrrolidine (17k) (IC50 = 0.068 microM), and the corresponding quaternized analogue, 18k (IC50 = 0.018 microM) showed the highest nicotinic receptor affinity. The tertiary amine, 17k showed much higher nicotinic receptor affinity than the acyclic analogue, 4 (IC50 = 5.7 microM), and the N/M selectivity factor determined for 17k (150) is an order of magnitude lower than that of nicotine (1400). THe N/M selectivity factors for MCC (2) and DMCC (3), previously reported to be highly selective nicotinic receptor ligands, were shown to be 6.5 and 60, respectively, the latter value being comparable with that of 18k (89).