Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts: Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound   Target Concepts: Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound

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Query: EC:2.7.7.49 (reverse transcriptase)
31,746 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Based on an improved multi-population genetic algorithm, a new fast flexible docking program, GAsDock, was developed. The docking accuracy, screening efficiency, and docking speed of GAsDock were evaluated by the docking results of thymidine kinase (TK) and HIV-1 reverse transcriptase (RT) enzyme with 10 available inhibitors of each protein and 990 randomly selected ligands. Nine of the ten known inhibitors of TK were accurately docked into the protein active site, the root-mean-square deviation (RMSD) values between the docking and X-ray crystal structures are less than 1.7A; binding poses (conformation and orientation) of 9 of the 10 known inhibitors of RT were reproduced by GAsDock with RMSD values less than 2.0A. The docking time is approximately in proportion to the number of rotatable bonds of ligands; GAsDock can finish a docking simulation within 60s for a ligand with no more than 20 rotatable bonds. Results indicate that GAsDock is an accurate and remarkably faster docking program in comparison with other docking programs, which is applausive in the application of virtual screening.
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PMID:GAsDock: a new approach for rapid flexible docking based on an improved multi-population genetic algorithm. 1532 86

It has been proposed that some host factors may affect the intracellular drug concentration leading to the inability of drug regimens to inhibit human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) replication in cells. Among them, two factors, whose description is the main aim of this review, have been considered during the last years with particular emphasis. They are: i) altered uptake and reduced activation of nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) in target cells, and ii) efflux of NRTIs and protease inhibitors (PIs) by cellular transporter molecules. In fact, several authors have shown that: changes in the activity of various purine and pyrimidine biosynthetic enzymes may occur in lymphocytes of HIV-infected patients; HIV-infected patients on prolonged treatment with nucleoside analogs, such as zidovudine, show significantly decreased activity of thymidine kinase compared to untreated HIV-infected persons; NRTI and PIs are substrates for the so-called multidrug membrane transporters. With regard to the latter issue, it is known that the ATP-binding cassette transporter proteins such as the P glycoprotein, and the newly discovered family of multidrug resistance-associated proteins (MRP 1-9) promote the active extracellular efflux of a wide variety of therapeutics and overexpression of some of them lowers intracellular concentration of PIs. In the very near future such mechanisms, called by most authors "cellular drug-resistance", might be taken into account, together with other immunological, virological and behavioral factors, to explain "drug failure" and/or the variability of response in HIV patients undergoing an antiretroviral treatment.
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PMID:Host factors and efficacy of antiretroviral treatment. 1564 66

Nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NRTI) treatment of HIV is associated with complications, including lipodystrophy (LD) and myopathy. Inhibition of mitochondrial DNA polymerase and depletion of mtDNA by NRTI triphosphates are believed to be key mechanisms in NRTI toxicity. Here, we determined the activities and mRNA levels of deoxynucleoside kinases (dNK) and 5'-nucleotidases (5'-NT) controlling the rate-limiting step in intracellular phosphorylation of NRTIs in cell models representing adipose, muscle tissue and peripheral blood cells using specific assays and Taqman RT-PCR. In vitro phosphorylation of 3'-azido-2',3'-dideoxythymidine (AZT) and 2',3'-didehydro-2',3'-dideoxythymidine (d4T) in extracts was also determined. 3T3-L1 adipocytes showed similar activity of mitochondrial thymidine kinase-2 (TK2) and deoxyguanosine kinase (dGK) but 3- to 36-fold lower levels of cytosolic deoxycytidine kinase (dCK), thymidine kinase-1 (TK1) and thymidine monophosphate kinase (TMPK) and higher levels of deoxyribonucleotidase activity compared to proliferating 3T3-L1. dCK, dGK and TK2 activities correlated with their mRNA levels in proliferating, resting and differentiating 3T3-L1. Differentiated L6 myoblasts had lower activities of cytosolic dNK's and TMPK, higher dGK and similar TK2 and deoxyribonucleotidases (dNT) activities compared to proliferating myoblasts. TK2 was the limiting dNK activity while dGK was predominant in adipocytes and myocytes. Activity profiles revealed limited capacity to phosphorylate dThd and dCyd in adipocytes and myocytes compared to proliferating cells and CEM lymphocytes. Phosphorylation of AZT and d4T was low in adipocytes and myocytes, and the presence of these analogs inhibited the phosphorylation of dThd by TK2 suggesting that mitochondrial toxicity of some NRTIs in adipocytes and myocytes is due to the depletion of normal mitochondrial dNTP pools.
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PMID:Activity profiles of deoxynucleoside kinases and 5'-nucleotidases in cultured adipocytes and myoblastic cells: insights into mitochondrial toxicity of nucleoside analogs. 1574 6

As a general rule, enzymes act on only one enantiomer of a chiral substrate and only one of the enantiomeric forms of a chiral molecule may bind effectively at the catalytic site, displaying biological activity. In recent years, some exceptions have been found among viral and cellular enzymes involved in the synthesis of deoxynucleoside triphosphates and in their polymerisation into DNA. Examples are: herpes virus thymidine kinases, cellular deoxycytidine kinase and deoxynucleotide kinases, human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) reverse transcriptase, hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA polymerase and, to a lesser extent, some cellular DNA polymerases. The lack of enantioselectivity allows herpes simplex virus (HSV) thymidine kinase and cellular deoxycytidine kinase to phosphorylate the unnatural L-beta-enantiomers of D-thymidine and D-deoxycytidine, respectively, or of their analogues to monophosphate. This phosphorylation represents the first and often the rate-limiting step of their activation to triphosphates. The L-triphosphates can then exert antiviral (anti-HSV, anti-Human cytomegalovirus, anti-HIV-1, anti-HBV) and anticancer activities. Although only one L-nucleoside (3TC) has so far gained United States of America Food and Drug Administration (USA FDA) approval for clinical use against HIV-1, other L-enantiomers of nucleoside analogues, which have shown antiviral or anticancer activity in cell cultures are in clinical trials. Their resistance to enantioselective enzymes, such as thymidine phosphorylase, thymidylate synthase, (deoxy)-cytidine and dCMP deaminases, and their lower affinity for the mitochondrial thymidine kinase can ensure a higher selectivity and lower cytotoxicity with respect to those exerted by their corresponding natural D-enantiomers and might be exploited to solve problems arising during chemotherapy, such as metabolic inactivation, cytotoxicity and drug-resistance.
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PMID:Molecular basis for the antiviral and anticancer activities of unnatural L-beta-nucleosides. 1599 31

Integration of a therapeutic gene into the host cell genome permits stable expression of the gene product in the target cells and its progeny. However, non-directional integration of any given gene can pose the risk of activating tumor genes or silencing tumor suppressor genes. Therefore, including a safety-control element into integrating vector systems is an important advance towards safer human gene therapy. Here, we report on a gene expression cassette that can be potentially exploited in integrating vector systems to eliminate post-therapeutic tumorigenesis. The Herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase (hsvTK) gene under the transcriptional control of the human telomere reverse transcriptase promoter (hTERTp) was incorporated into a self-inactivating HIV-based lentiviral vector. The hTERT promoter is silent in normal somatic cells and re-activated in tumor cells. Therefore, normal gene-corrected cells should not express hsvTK from the promoter. However, if some gene-corrected cells subsequently become tumorigenic and the hTERT promoter is re-activated, application of ganciclovir (GCV), a clinically used antiviral drug, will achieve selective deletion of the cancerous cells. Our experimental data indicated that the hTERTp-hsvTK cassette in the lentiviral vector was sufficient to differentiate between tumor cells and normal cells, thus eradicating tumor cells selectively in vitro and in vivo. These results proved the principle of using the element in integrating vectors for safer gene delivery.
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PMID:Conditional expression of a suicide gene by the telomere reverse transcriptase promoter for potential post-therapeutic deletion of tumorigenesis. 1612 46

Establishment of selective antiviral chemotherapy has achieved dramatic improvement of the prognosis of several viral infections. It has been considered for a long time that, unlike bacterial infections, viral diseases cannot be successfully treated with chemotherapeutic agents, since viral replication mostly depends on the host-cellular machinery. In fact, some compounds were reported to inhibit viral replication even in the 1950s and 1960s, yet they were also quite toxic to the host cells. The first antiviral compound that strongly inhibits viral replication without affecting the uninfected cells is the anti-herpes agent acyclovir (ACV), which was discovered in the 1970s. Furthermore, in the 1980s, the world-wide epidemic of AIDS caused by human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection has dramatically accelerated the development of new antiviral agents. At present, most of the effective antivirals are targeted at virus-specific enzymes, such as ACV for herpes virus thymidine kinase, zidovudine for HIV-1 reverse transcriptase, squinavir for HIV-1 protease, and oseltamivir for neuraminidase of influenza virus. These agents can be administered systemically without serious side effects. However, several drawbacks, including delayed toxicity and drug-resistance, are associated with long-term treatment with several antiviral agents mostly in highly active antiretroviral therapy for HIV-1 infection. Thus, it seems still mandatory to continue the search for more effective and less toxic compounds against various viral infections.
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PMID:[Advances in antiviral chemotherapy]. 1630 32

Nucleoside analogs were first approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use against HIV-AIDS in 1987. Since then, these agents, now commonly referred to as nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs), have become essential components of the Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) drug combinations used for treatment of Human Immunodeficiency Virus-1 (HIV-1) infections. Their antiretroviral activity is likely two-fold: incorporation of the drug into viral DNA and inhibition of the viral reverse transcriptase. However, incorporation of the drug into host nuclear and mitochondrial DNA may be largely responsible for dose-limiting toxicities. Azidothymidine (AZT, 3'-azido-3'-deoxythymidine, zidovudine), the first NRTI approved for the therapy of HIV-1, is incorporated into DNA, causes mutations in the hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyl-transferase (HPRT) and thymidine kinase (TK) genes, and induces micronuclei, chromosomal aberrations, sister chromatid exchange, shortened telomeres, and other genotoxic effects in cultured cells. Genomic instability would be predicted as a consequence of these events. Metabolic pathways that result in the phosphorylation of AZT play a crucial role in AZT-DNA incorporation, and may be altered after prolonged treatment. For example, thymidine kinase 1, the enzyme responsible for AZT mono-phosphorylation, is down-regulated during long-term exposure and appears to be associated with AZT-induced replication inhibition and the accumulation of cells in S-phase. Detailed information on the mechanisms underlying NRTI-associated antiretroviral efficacy, toxicity, and metabolic resistance were not available when AZT was first approved for use as an antiretroviral agent. Current insights, based on 15 years of research, may lead to intervention strategies to attenuate toxicity without altering drug efficacy.
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PMID:Mechanisms of genotoxicity of nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors. 1639 95

Retroviruses and DNA viruses utilize cellular dNTPs as substrates for their DNA polymerases during viral replication in infected cells. However, because of S phase-dependent dNTP biosynthesis, the availability of cellular dNTPs significantly varies among cell types (e.g. dividing versus nondividing cells and normal versus tumor cells). Here we tested whether alterations in the dNTP utilization efficiency and dNTP binding affinity of viral DNA polymerases can switch viral infection specificity to cell types with different dNTP concentrations. We employed an HIV-1 reverse transcriptase (RT) mutant (Q151N), which is catalytically active only at high dNTP concentrations because of its reduced dNTP binding affinity. Indeed, the modified HIV-1 vector harboring the Q151N mutant RT preferentially transduced tumor cells containing higher cellular dNTP concentrations than primary cells (e.g. human lung fibroblasts (HLFs) and human keratinocytes). Although the wild type HIV-1 vector transduced both HLFs and tumor cells, the Q151N vector failed to transduce HLFs and keratinocytes but efficiently transduced tumor cells. Pretreatment of HLFs with deoxynucleosides, which increase cellular dNTP pools, enabled the mutant vector to transduce HLFs, suggesting that the transduction failure of the RT mutant vector to primary cells is because of inefficient reverse transcription in low cellular dNTP environments. We also observed that the Q151N vector expressing herpes simplex virus-thymidine kinase renders tumor cells sensitive to gancyclovir. This study validates a novel strategy in which modifications of viral DNA polymerases in various vector systems allow the delivery of target genes exclusively to tumor cells exploiting elevated cellular dNTP concentration as a tumor cell-specific host factor.
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PMID:Modification of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 reverse transcriptase to target cells with elevated cellular dNTP concentrations. 1649 63

Zidovudine (AZT; 3'-azido-3'-deoxythymidine), a thymidine analog, has been a staple of highly active antiretroviral therapy. It is phosphorylated in the host to the triphosphate and functions by inhibiting the viral reverse transcriptase. However, long-term use of AZT is linked to various tissue toxicities, including cardiomyopathy. These toxicities are associated with mitochondrial DNA depletion, which is hypothesized to be caused by AZT triphosphate inhibition of mitochondrial DNA polymerase gamma. In previous work with isolated heart mitochondria, we demonstrated that AZT phosphorylation beyond the monophosphate was not detected and that AZT itself was a potent inhibitor of thymidine phosphorylation. This suggests an alternative hypothesis in which depletion of the TTP pool may limit mitochondrial DNA replication. The present work extends these studies to the whole cell by investigating the metabolism of thymidine and AZT in the intact isolated perfused rat heart. [3H]thymidine is converted to [3H]TTP in a time- and concentration-dependent manner. The level of [3H]TMP is low, suggesting that the reaction catalyzed by thymidine kinase is the rate-limiting step in phosphorylation. [3H]AZT is converted in a time- and concentration-dependent manner to AZT monophosphate, the only phosphorylated product detected after 3 h of perfusion. Both compounds display negative cooperativity, similar to the observations with cloned and purified mitochondrial thymidine kinase 2. The presence of AZT in the perfusate inhibits the phosphorylation of [3H]thymidine with a 50% inhibitory concentration of 24+/-4 microM. These data support the hypothesis that AZT-induced mitochondrial cardiotoxicity may be caused by a limiting pool of TTP that lowers mitochondrial DNA replication.
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PMID:Zidovudine inhibits thymidine phosphorylation in the isolated perfused rat heart. 1722 Apr 3

Mitochondrial toxicity limits nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) for acquired immune deficiency syndrome. NRTI triphosphates, the active moieties, inhibit human immunodeficiency virus reverse transcriptase and eukaryotic mitochondrial DNA polymerase pol-gamma. NRTI phosphorylation seems to correlate with mitochondrial toxicity, but experimental evidence is lacking. Transgenic mice (TGs) with cardiac overexpression of thymidine kinase isoforms (mitochondrial TK2 and cytoplasmic TK1) were used to study NRTI mitochondrial toxicity. Echocardiography and nuclear magnetic resonance imaging defined cardiac performance and structure. TK gene copy and enzyme activity, mitochondrial (mt) DNA and polypeptide abundance, succinate dehydrogenase and cytochrome oxidase histochemistry, and electron microscopy correlated with transgenesis, mitochondrial structure, and biogenesis. Antiretroviral combinations simulated therapy. Untreated hTK1 or TK2 TGs exhibited normal left ventricle mass. In TK2 TGs, cardiac TK2 gene copy doubled, activity increased 300-fold, and mtDNA abundance doubled. Abundance of the 17-kd subunit of complex I, succinate dehydrogenase histochemical activity, and cristae density increased. NRTIs increased left ventricle mass 20% in TK2 TGs. TK activity increased 3 logs in hTK1 TGs, but no cardiac phenotype resulted. NRTIs abrogated functional effects of transgenically increased TK2 activity but had no effect on TK2 mtDNA abundance. Thus, NRTI mitochondrial phosphorylation by TK2 is integral to clinical NRTI mitochondrial toxicity.
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PMID:Targeted transgenic overexpression of mitochondrial thymidine kinase (TK2) alters mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and mitochondrial polypeptide abundance: transgenic TK2, mtDNA, and antiretrovirals. 1732 72


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