guanosine-triphosphate and 4-carbamoylimidazolium-5-olate

The effects of 4-carbamoylimidazolium 5-olate (SM-108), an antipurine compound, on a human leukemia cell line, K562, were studied. Treatment with SM-108 induced erythroid differentiation of K562 cells. During a 6-day culture with 100 microM SM-108, the cell number decreased to 37% of the control number, 77% of the cells became benzidine-positive, and the hemoglobin content increased from 2.1 +/- 0.2 to 10.6 +/- 1.3 pg/cell. Cell differentiation was associated with reduction of IMP dehydrogenase activity and intracellular GTP content to 25 and 36%, respectively, of the control values within 1.5 hr. The differentiation and decrease in the GTP pool induced by SM-108 were blocked by the presence of 25 microM guanine or guanosine. SM-108 also induced erythroid differentiation of K562 subline cells transfected with pMSG (K562/pMSG), which have an additional salvage pathway for GMP production from xanthine. The addition of 100 microM xanthine prevented erythroid differentiation of this subline and restored the GTP pool. These findings suggest that the induction of erythroid differentiation of K562 cells by SM-108 may be due to an early decrease in IMP dehydrogenase activity and a subsequent decrease in GTP content in the cells. Thus, purine metabolism may have an important role in SM-108-induced differentiation.

Topics: Cell Differentiation; Cell Line; Erythrocytes; Guanosine Triphosphate; Humans; Imidazoles; IMP Dehydrogenase; Leukemia, Myelogenous, Chronic, BCR-ABL Positive; Purines; Tumor Stem Cell Assay; Xanthine; Xanthines

Ehrlich carcinoma and P388 leukemia cells were rendered resistant to 4-carbamoylimidazolium 5-olate (SM-108), and assessments were made of biochemical and pharmacological determinants for the sensitivity to SM-108 using both sensitive and resistant sublines. We observed that the treatment of cells with SM-108 in vitro caused a remarkable decrease in the intracellular guanosine 5'-triphosphate pool level in sensitive but not in resistant sublines. There was no difference in the ability to take up SM-108 between sensitive and resistant sublines, but the cellular conversion of SM-108 to its nucleotide, which is the putative active anabolite of SM-108, proceeded only in sensitive sublines. Enzymological studies revealed that the activity of adenine phosphoribosyltransferase (EC 2.4.2.7), which is believed to conjugate SM-108 with 5-phospho-alpha-D-ribose 1-diphosphate, was very low in the resistant sublines. These results strongly support our previous hypothesis that SM-108 is activated by adenine phosphoribosyltransferase to SM-108-nucleotide which then inhibits hypoxanthine-5'-monophosphate dehydrogenase (EC 1.2.1.14), a key enzyme for the de novo synthesis of guanosine 5'-monophosphate.

Topics: Adenine Phosphoribosyltransferase; Animals; Carcinoma, Ehrlich Tumor; Cell Line; Drug Resistance; Guanosine Triphosphate; Imidazoles; IMP Dehydrogenase; Leukemia P388; Mice; Neoplasms, Experimental