tiazofurin and Leukemia-P388

In order to exert its antitumor effects, the C-nucleoside tiazofurin (2-beta-D-ribofuranosylthiazole-4-carboxamide) is converted to the dinucleotide TAD (thiazole-4-carboxamide adenine dinucleotide), an inhibitor of IMP dehydrogenase (IMPD). With few exceptions, sensitive tumors (such as the P388 leukemia) have been found to accumulate substantially more of this inhibitory dinucleotide than resistant strains (exemplified by the colon 38 carcinoma). Previous studies have attributed this difference to a depressed capacity to synthesize TAD on the part of tumors refractory to tiazofurin. In the present study, a second contributory factor has been identified, viz. an enhanced ability to degrade preformed TAD. This degradation has been traced to a soluble phosphodiesterase present at high levels in tumors naturally resistant to tiazofurin. Using standard techniques, this TAD-phosphodiesterase has been purified 200-fold from the colon 38 carcinoma. The activity so purified readily hydrolyzed TAD and ADP-ribose, but exhibited a comparatively weak activity toward NAD and thymidine-5'-monophosphate-nitrophenyl ester. ADP-Ribose was also an excellent inhibitor of the hydrolysis of TAD. It is concluded, on the basis of these results, that TAD-phosphodiesterase plays an important role in the expression of the oncolytic activity of tiazofurin. The suggestion is also made that ADP-ribose may be the natural substrate for this enzyme.

Topics: Adenine Nucleotides; Animals; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; Colonic Neoplasms; IMP Dehydrogenase; Leukemia P388; Male; Mice; Phosphoric Diester Hydrolases; Ribavirin; Ribonucleosides

Tiazofurin is a synthetic "C" nucleoside analogue with a promising spectrum of experimental antitumor activity and a relatively novel mechanism of action. Previous work in our laboratories had revealed indications of collateral sensitivity and therapeutic synergism for selected murine tumor models treated with tiazofurin alone or in combination with an antimetabolite or an alkylating agent. Elucidation by others of biochemical indicators of tiazofurin activity provided the rationale for extending our studies to include the tiazofurin combinations reported here. Young, adult, female, BALB/c X DBA/2 F1 mice bearing body burdens of about 4 X 10(7) cells at the start of treatment were used. Cells were implanted either i.p. or s.c. Tiazofurin plus cisplatin or the 5'-palmitate of 1-beta-D-arabinofuranosylcytosine (ara-C) was evaluated against the parent P388/O leukemia line. Tiazofurin plus 6-thioguanine was evaluated against the ara-C-resistant P388. All drug treatments were i.p. injections given daily for 9 days. The experimental design permitted comparison of optimal nontoxic single-agent and two-drug combination regimens on the basis of the estimated log10 change in tumor cell burden at the end of treatment. Concurrent untreated control mice bearing tumor burdens ranging from approximately one to 10(7) cells permitted estimates of cells surviving treatment. Optimal treatment with each of these combinations afforded tumor burden reductions that were greater by 1 to 7 orders of magnitude than the effects of the respective single agents. Optimal single-agent and combination dosages (mg per kg per dose) were as follows: tiazofurin, 500; cisplatin, 2.0; the 5'-palmitate of ara-C, 25; 6-thioguanine, 0.8; tiazofurin, 330 plus cisplatin, 0.58; tiazofurin, 220 plus the 5'-palmitate of ara-C, 20; tiazofurin, 100 plus 6-thioguanine, 0.8. The observed therapeutic synergism of these drugs with tiazofurin in animal models suggests the possibility that treatment with tiazofurin combinations may yield clinical results superior to those obtained with the single agents alone. Therapeutic synergism can be most readily maximized when biochemical markers of drug action are available to provide appropriate clinical-laboratory correlations. Extension of these approaches to the use of tiazofurin, for which biochemical markers and experimental combination chemotherapy leads are now available, would support the rational clinical development of tiazofurin combinations.

Topics: Animals; Antineoplastic Agents; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols; Aspartic Acid; Cisplatin; Cytarabine; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Drug Administration Schedule; Drug Synergism; Female; Leukemia P388; Leukemia, Experimental; Mice; Phosphonoacetic Acid; Ribavirin; Ribonucleosides; Thioguanine

A series of dinucleotides, analogous to nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide but containing the five-membered base nucleosides tiazofurin (1a), selenazofurin (1b), ribavirin (2), and AICAR (3) in place of nicotinamide ribonucleoside, were prepared in greater than 50% yield by reacting the corresponding nucleotide imidazolidates (6a-d) with adenosine 5'-monophosphate (AMP). The symmetric dinucleotides of tiazofurin (TTD, 8e) and selenazofurin (SSD, 8f) were also prepared by a similar methodology. These dinucleotides were characterized by 1H NMR and fast atom bombardment MS and were evaluated for their inhibitory potency against a partially purified preparation of tumoral inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase (IMPD) from P388 cells. The order of potency found was SAD (8b) greater than TAD (8a) much greater than SSD (8f) congruent to TTD (8e) congruent to RAD (8c) much much greater than ZAD (8d). On kinetic analysis none of the dinucleotides produced competitive inhibition of IMPD with NAD as a variable substrate. In addition to their superior IMPD inhibitory activity, SAD and TAD appear to be the only dinucleotides, besides NAD, that are formed naturally by the NAD pyrophosphorylase from P388 lymphoblasts.

Topics: Animals; IMP Dehydrogenase; Ketone Oxidoreductases; Kinetics; Leukemia P388; Mice; NAD; Organoselenium Compounds; Ribavirin; Ribonucleosides; Selenium

The purpose of this investigation was to examine factors which regulate the reprogramming of gene expression in tumors responsible for resistance to tiazofurin. To study the resistance phenomenon drug-induced tumor lines were selected and examined for the mechanism of resistance. A comparison of the biochemical expression of resistance to tiazofurin in drug-induced resistant lines of hepatoma 3924A, leukemias L1210 and P388 revealed that the 3 lines expressed similar genetic alterations related to reduced TAD content, decreased NAD pyrophosphorylase activity and increased synthesis of guanylates from salvaging preformed guanine indicating that these 3 factors play an important role in the resistance to tiazofurin. Resistance was stable in the leukemia lines and did not require drug to maintain resistance. Hepatoma 3924A resistant line reverted to sensitive state in the absence of drug selection pressure. NAD pyrophosphorylase activity was substantially deleted in the tiazofurin resistant leukemia lines, but was only significantly decreased in the hepatoma resistant line. Extensive biochemical alterations including enhanced activity of IMP dehydrogenase, increased inosinate and guanylate pools, and reduced uptake of tiazofurin were found in the hepatoma line resistant to tiazofurin. To examine the applicability of these results to naturally sensitive and spontaneously resistant tumors, murine tumors were examined. In murine tumors, TAD accumulation, ratios of enzyme activities responsible for the synthesis and degradation of TAD, and the ratios of perturbation of inosinate and guanylate pools following tiazofurin challenge demonstrated significant correlation with the sensitive or resistant nature of the tumors. To extrapolate these observations to human tumor systems, cytotoxicity of tiazofurin and its metabolic effects were compared in 6 human lung cancer cell lines derived from cancer patients with small cell lung cancer (4 lines) and lung adenocarcinoma (2 lines). Cell lines exhibiting greater sensitivity to tiazofurin accumulated significantly larger amounts of TAD and showed significant reduction of guanylate pools following tiazofurin incubation. The activity of the enzyme responsible for the formation of TAD, NAD pyrophosphorylase, did not correlate with responsiveness to tiazofurin but the enzyme which hydrolyzes TAD, TADase, correlated positively with the status of resistance.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Topics: Adenine Nucleotides; Animals; Antineoplastic Agents; Cell Line; Cell Survival; Drug Resistance; Guanine Nucleotides; Humans; Inosine Nucleotides; Leukemia L1210; Leukemia P388; Liver Neoplasms, Experimental; Lung Neoplasms; Mice; Nicotinamide-Nucleotide Adenylyltransferase; Rats; Ribavirin; Ribonucleosides

Topics: Animals; Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; IMP Dehydrogenase; Ketone Oxidoreductases; Leukemia P388; Leukemia, Experimental; Mice; NAD; Organoselenium Compounds; Ribavirin; Ribonucleosides; Selenium

2-beta-D-Ribofuranosylselenazole-4-carboxamide, a selenazole analog of the antitumor agent Tiazofurin, is severalfold more cytotoxic to murine tumor cells in culture than Tiazofurin. Like Tiazofurin, the cytotoxicity of the selenazole analog is reversed by exogenous guanosine, and both nucleosides specifically inhibit IMP dehydrogenase activity in cultured P388 cells. The dose-dependency for this inhibition correlates with the relative cytotoxicities of both drugs, indicating that a more potent inhibition of IMP dehydrogenase by the selenazole analog is primarily responsible for its increased cytotoxicity. The specific inhibition of the isolated enzyme by potential metabolites of the selenazole analog is discussed.

Topics: Animals; Antineoplastic Agents; Cell Survival; IMP Dehydrogenase; Leukemia L1210; Leukemia P388; Leukemia, Experimental; Mice; Nucleoside-Diphosphate Kinase; Organoselenium Compounds; Ribavirin; Ribonucleosides; Selenium

Topics: Adenosine; Animals; Antineoplastic Agents; IMP Dehydrogenase; Ketone Oxidoreductases; Kinetics; Leukemia P388; Male; Mice; NAD; Ribavirin; Ribonucleosides

Topics: Animals; Antineoplastic Agents; Carbon-Nitrogen Ligases; Cell Division; Cell Survival; DNA, Neoplasm; Hypoxanthines; IMP Dehydrogenase; Leukemia L1210; Leukemia P388; Ligases; Mice; Ribavirin; Ribonucleosides; Structure-Activity Relationship

Administration of the novel thiazole C-nucleoside, 2-beta-D-ribofuranosylthiazole-4-carboxamide (NSC 286193), to BDF1 mice bearing subcutaneous implants of P388 leukemia provoked a sharp depression in the concentration of intratumoral guanine nucleotides and a correspondingly large expansion of the IMP pools. Measurements of IMP dehydrogenase in the tumors of treated mice revealed that this enzyme was inhibited in a dose-responsive way, with approximately 50% inhibition engendered by the administration of the drug at a dose of 25 mg/kg and greater than 90% inhibition by all doses greater than 100 mg/kg. The inhibition of enzyme activity, seen after a dose of 250 mg/kg, reached a maximum 120 min after treatment and had subsided substantially 8 hr after dosing; by 24 hr. enzyme activity was fully restored. These results, coupled with the observation that the antitumor activity of the drug could be prevented in large part by the simultaneous administration of guanosine, support the conclusion that 2-beta-D-ribofuranosylthiazole-4-carboxamide, after anabolism, exerts its antineoplastic effects via a state of guanine nucleotide depletion. In extracts of the tumors of mice given parenteral injections of the thiazole nucleoside, a potent dialyzable inhibitor of IMP dehydrogenase was demonstrable: its concentration fluctuated in parallel with enzyme inhibition. Although the chemical identity of the proximate inhibitory species has yet to be established, it is concluded on kinetic grounds that it is neither the native nucleoside nor its 5'-monophosphate.

Topics: Animals; Antineoplastic Agents; Guanosine; Hypoxanthines; IMP Dehydrogenase; Kinetics; Leukemia P388; Leukemia, Experimental; Mice; Niacinamide; Nucleic Acids; Ribavirin; Ribonucleosides; Time Factors

Topics: Animals; Antineoplastic Agents; Drug Resistance; Guanosine Triphosphate; Leukemia P388; Leukemia, Experimental; Mice; Neoplasm Transplantation; Ribavirin; Ribonucleosides; Time Factors