Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: EC:1.6.5.2 (NQO1)
 6,196 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

A polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based method was used to quantitate the expression levels of low abundance genes relevant to cancer drug activity. RNA from tumor samples as small as 20 mg was isolated and converted to cDNA using random hexamers. The 5' primers for the PCR contained a T7 polymerase promoter sequence, allowing the PCR-amplified DNA to be transcribed to RNA fragments. In each sample, the linear ranges of amplification of each cDNA of interest were established. Relative gene expressions were calculated by extrapolating the amounts of PCR products generated within the linear amplification regions of each gene to equal volumes of the cDNA solution. The method was accurate to less than a 2-fold difference in expression levels. Using beta 2-microglobulin and beta-actin gene expressions as internal reference standards and cDNA from HT-29 cells as an external linearity standard, we measured the relative expressions of thymidylate synthase, dihydrofolate reductase, and DT-diaphorase in a number of clinical tumor samples. The expressions of these genes varied from 50- to 100-fold among different tumors, although most of the values were grouped within about a 10-fold range. The amount of thymidylate synthase gene expression in tumor tissues was directly proportional to the content of thymidylate synthase protein. Those tumors with the lowest thymidylate synthase expression had the best response to both the 5-fluorouracil-leucovorin and 5-fluorouracil-cisplatin combinations.
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PMID:Quantitation of thymidylate synthase, dihydrofolate reductase, and DT-diaphorase gene expression in human tumors using the polymerase chain reaction. 172 69

Gemcitabine (2'-2'-difluorodeoxycytidine; dFdC) is a deoxycytidine analogue which is effective against solid tumours, including lung cancer and ovarian cancer. dFdC requires phosphorylation by deoxycytidine kinase (dCK) for activation. In the human ovarian cancer cell line A2780 and its 30,000-fold dFdC-resistant variant AG6000 (P<0.001), we investigated the cross-resistance profile to several drugs. AG6000, which has a complete dCK deficiency, was approximately 1000-10,000-fold resistant to other deoxynucleoside analogues such as 1-beta-D-arabinofuranosyl cytosine, 2-chloro-deoxyadenosine, aza-deoxycytidine and 2', 2'-difluorodeoxyguanosine (dFdG) (P<0.001). dFdG can be activated by dCK and deoxyguanosine kinase (dGK), but the latter enzyme was not altered in AG6000 cells. Thus dFdG resistance was only due to dCK deficiency. AG6000 was 1.6- and 46.7-fold resistant to 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) and ZD1694, respectively (the latter was significant; P<0.01), which may be due to the 1.7-fold higher thymidylate synthase (TS) activity, but AG6000 cells were also 2. 7-fold resistant to the lipophilic TS inhibitor AG337 (P<0.05). Remarkably, AG6000 cells were 2.5-fold more sensitive to methotrexate (MTX) (P<0.01) than A2780 cells, but 1.6-fold more resistant to trimetrexate (TMQ) (P<0.10). However, no differences in reduced folate carrier activity, folylpolyglutamate synthetase (FPGS) activity and polyglutamation of MTX were found between the cell lines. AG6000 cells were approximately 2 to 7.5-fold more resistant to doxorubicin (DOX), daunorubicin (DAU), epirubicin and vincristine (VCR) (the latter was significant; P<0.02) and approximately 4-fold more resistant to the microtubule inhibitors paclitaxel and docetaxel (P<0.001). Fluorescent activated cell sorter (FACS) analysis revealed no P-glycoprotein (Pgp) or multidrug resistance-associated protein (MRP) expression, but less fluorescence of intercalated DAU in AG6000 cells. An approximately 2-fold resistance to the topoisomerase I and II inhibitors etoposide, CPT-11 and SN38 was found in AG6000 cells. Topoisomerase I and IIalpha RNA expression was decreased in AG6000 cells. AG6000 was 2.4, 2.4, 2.3 and 3.7-fold more resistant to EO9 (P<0.02), mitomycin-C (MMC) (P<0.05), cisplatin (CDDP) (P<0.10) and maphosphamide (MAPH), respectively. DT-diaphorase (DTD), which activates EO9, was 2.2-fold lower in AG6000 cells. CDDP resistance might be related to a reduced retention of DNA adducts in AG6000. However, glutathione levels were equal in A2780 and AG6000 cells. A 24 h exposure to DOX, VCR and paclitaxel at equimolar and equitoxic concentrations, resulted in more double-strand breaks (1.5- to 2-fold) in A2780 than in AG6000 cells. MAPH at 1120 nM and 17 nM of EO9 did not cause DNA damage in either cell line. In conclusion, AG6000 is a cell line highly cross-resistant to a wide variety of drugs. This cross-resistance might be related to altered enzyme activities and/or increased DNA repair.
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PMID:Cross-resistance in the 2',2'-difluorodeoxycytidine (gemcitabine)-resistant human ovarian cancer cell line AG6000 to standard and investigational drugs. 1100 May 80

New drug development requires simple in vitro models that resemble the in vivo situation more in order to select active drugs against solid tumours and to decrease the use of experimental animals. In this paper, we review the characteristics and scope of a relatively simple cell-culture system with a three-dimensional organisation pattern - the multilayered postconfluent cell culture model. Solid tumour cell lines from diverse origins when grown in V-bottomed microtiter plates reach confluence in 3-5 days and then start to form multilayers. The initial exponential growth of the culture is followed by a plateau phase when cells reach confluence. This produces changes in the morphology of the cells. For some cell lines, it is possible to observe cell differentiation. A substantial advantage of the system is the use of the sulforodamine B (SRB) assay to determine relative cell growth or viability, which allows semiautomation of the experiments. Several experiments were performed to assess the differences and similarities between cells cultured as monolayers and multilayers, and eventually, compared with the results for solid tumours and some other models such as spheroids. Cell-cycle analysis for multilayers showed a lower S-phase arrest, which is accompanied by a decrease in the expression of cell-cycle-related proteins and a decrease in cellular nucleotide pools. Gene and protein expression of topoisomerase I, topoisomerase II and thymidylate synthase expression were lower for multilayers, but no substantial changes were observed for the expression of DT-diaphorase. P53 expression increased. Multilayer cultures present distinctive properties for drug transport across the membrane, drug accumulation and retention. In fact, the transport of antifolates across the membrane, accumulation of topotecan and gemcitabine-triphosphate are reduced in multilayers when compared with monolayers, which may be related to a decrease in drug penetration to the inner regions of the multilayers. Alteration of these pharmacodynamic parameters is directly related to a decrease in drug activity. The most powerful application of multilayers is in the assessment of cytotoxicity. Solid tumour cell lines from different origins have been treated with several conventional and investigational anticancer drugs. The data show that multilayers are more resistant to the drugs than the corresponding monolayers, but there are substantial differences between the drugs depending on culture conditions, e.g. the difference was rather small for a drug such as cisplatin, miltefosine and EO9, a drug, which is activated under hypoxic conditions. Gemcitabine was active against ovarian cancer but not against colon cancer, resembling the in vivo situation. This observation was not evident with monolayer experiments. Another interesting application is the possibility to perform drug combination studies. The combination of gemcitabine and cisplatin proved to produce selective cell kill in H322 cells (non-small cell lung cancer cell line). Neither of the drugs was independently able to produce similar effects. In summary, multilayer cultures are relatively simple three-dimensional systems to study the effect of microenvironmental conditions on anticancer drug activity. The model might serve as a base for a more rigorous secondary in vitro screening.
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PMID:The multilayered postconfluent cell culture as a model for drug screening. 1103 3

The rationale fo the development of prodrugs relies upon delivery of higher concentrations of a drug to target cells compared to administration of the drug itself. In the last decades, numerous prodrugs that are enzymatically activated into anti-cancer agents have been developed. This review describes the most important enzymes involved in prodrug activation notably with respect to tissue distribution, up-regulation in tumor cells and turnover rates. The following endogenous enzymes are discussed: aldehyde oxidase, amino acid oxidase, cytochrome P450 reductase, DT-diaphorase, cytochrome P450, tyrosinase, thymidylate synthase, thymidine phosphorylase, glutathione S-transferase, deoxycytidine kinase, carboxylesterase, alkaline phosphatase, beta-glucuronidase and cysteine conjugate beta-lyase. In relation to each of these enzymes, several prodrugs are discussed regarding organ- or tumor-selective activation of clinically relevant prodrugs of 5-fluorouracil, axazaphosphorines (cyclophosphamide, ifosfamide, and trofosfamide), paclitaxel, etoposide, anthracyclines (doxorubicin, daunorubicin, epirubicin), mercaptopurine, thioguanine, cisplatin, melphalan, and other important prodrugs such as menadione, mitomycin C, tirapazamine, 5-(aziridin-1-yl)-2,4-dinitrobenzamide, ganciclovir, irinotecan, dacarbazine, and amifostine. In addition to endogenous enzymes, a number of nonendogenous enzymes, used in antibody-, gene-, and virus-directed enzyme prodrug therapies, are described. It is concluded that the development of prodrugs has been relatively successful; however, all prodrugs lack a complete selectivity. Therefore, more work is needed to explore the differences between tumor and nontumor cells and to develop optimal substrates in terms of substrate affinity and enzyme turnover rates fo prodrug-activating enzymes resulting in more rapid and selective cleavage of the prodrug inside the tumor cells.
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PMID:Enzyme-catalyzed activation of anticancer prodrugs. 1500 63

Ca(2+) and the cell-surface calcium sensing receptor (CaSR) constitute a novel and robust ligand/receptor system in regulating the proliferation and differentiation of colonic epithelial cells. Here we show that activation of CaSR by extracellular Ca(2+) (or CaSR agonists) enhanced the sensitivity of human colon carcinoma cells to mitomycin C (MMC) and fluorouracil (5-FU). Activation of CaSR up-regulated the expression of MMC activating enzyme, NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO-1) and down-regulated the expression of 5-FU target, thymidylate synthase (TS) and the anti-apoptotic protein survivin. Cells that were resistant to drugs expressed little or no CaSR but abundant amount of survivin. Disruption of CaSR expression by shRNA targeting the CaSR abrogated these modulating effects of CaSR activation on the expression of NQO1, TS, survivin and cytotoxic response to drugs. It is concluded that activation of CaSR can enhance colon cancer cell sensitivity to MMC and 5-FU and can modulate the expression of molecules involved in the cellular responses to these cytotoxic drugs.
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PMID:Calcium and calcium sensing receptor modulates the expression of thymidylate synthase, NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase 1 and survivin in human colon carcinoma cells: promotion of cytotoxic response to mitomycin C and fluorouracil. 1861 19