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:3.5.4.1 (cytosine deaminase)
747 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Systems allowing tightly regulated expression of prokaryotic genes in vivo are important for performing functional studies of bacterial genes in host-pathogen interactions and establishing bacteria-based therapies. We integrated a regulatory control circuit activated by acetyl salicylic acid (ASA) in attenuated Salmonella enterica that carries an expression module with a gene of interest under control of the XylS2-dependent Pm promoter. This resulted in 20-150-fold induction ex vivo. The regulatory circuit was also efficiently induced by ASA when the bacteria resided in eukaryotic cells, both in vitro and in vivo. To validate the circuit, we administered Salmonella spp., carrying an expression module encoding the 5-fluorocytosine-converting enzyme cytosine deaminase in the bacterial chromosome or in a plasmid, to mice with tumors. Induction with ASA before 5-fluorocytosine administration resulted in a significant reduction of tumor growth. These results demonstrate the usefulness of the regulatory control circuit to selectively switch on gene expression during bacterial infection.
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PMID:In vivo gene regulation in Salmonella spp. by a salicylate-dependent control circuit. 1797 79

Modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA) has been used successfully to express various antigens for the development of vaccines. Here we show that MVA can also be used as an efficient vector for the transfer of suicide genes to cancer cells. We have generated a new and highly potent suicide gene, FCU1, which encodes a fusion protein derived from the yeast cytosine deaminase and uracil phosphoribosyltransferase genes. We now describe the therapeutic benefit of using MVA to deliver and express the FCU1 gene in cancer cells. MVA-mediated transfer of the FCU1 gene to various human tumor cells results in the production of a bifunctional intracellular enzyme, such that exposure to the prodrug 5-FC suppresses the growth of the tumor cells both in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, we report a more potent tumor growth delay at lower doses of 5-FC using MVA-FCU1 in comparison to adenovirus encoding FCU1. Prolonged therapeutic levels of cytotoxic 5-FU were detected in tumors in mice treated with both MVA-FCU1 and 5-FC while no detectable 5-FU was found in the circulation. This original combination between MVA and FCU1 represents a potentially safe and attractive therapeutic option to test in man.
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PMID:Modified vaccinia virus Ankara as a vector for suicide gene therapy. 1799 3

We have generated a thymidine kinase gene-deleted vaccinia virus (VV) (Copenhagen strain) that expressed the fusion suicide gene FCU1 derived from the yeast cytosine deaminase and uracil phosphoribosyltransferase genes. Intratumoral inoculation of this thymidine kinase gene-deleted VV encoding FCU1 (VV-FCU1) in the presence of systemically administered prodrug 5-fluorocytosine (5-FC) produced statistically significant reductions in the growth of subcutaneous human colon cancer in nude mice compared with thymidine kinase gene-deleted VV treatments or with control 5-fluorouracil alone. A limitation of prodrug therapies has often been the requirement for the direct injection of the virus into relatively large, accessible tumors. Here we demonstrate vector targeting of tumors growing subcutaneously following systemic administration of VV-FCU1. More importantly we also demonstrate that the systemic injection of VV-FCU1 in nude mice bearing orthotopic liver metastasis of a human colon cancer, with concomitant administration of 5-FC, leads to substantial tumor growth retardation. In conclusion, the insertion of the fusion FCU1 suicide gene potentiates the oncolytic efficiency of the thymidine kinase gene-deleted VV and represents a potentially efficient means for gene therapy of distant metastasis from colon and other cancers.
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PMID:Targeted delivery of a suicide gene to human colorectal tumors by a conditionally replicating vaccinia virus. 1848 Aug 46

Matrix attachment therapy (MAT) is an enzyme prodrug strategy that targets hyaluronan in the tumor extracellular matrix to deliver a prodrug converting enzyme near the tumor cells. A recombinant fusion protein containing the hyaluronan binding domain of TSG-6 (Link) and yeast cytosine deaminase (CD) with an N-terminal His(x6) tag was constructed to test MAT on the C26 colon adenocarcinoma in Balb/c mice that were given 5-fluorocytosine (5-FC) in the drinking water. LinkCD was expressed in Escherichia coli and purified by metal-chelation affinity chromatography. The purified LinkCD fusion protein exhibits a K(m) of 0.33 mM and V(max) of 15 microM/min/microg for the conversion of 5-FC to 5-fluorouracil (5-FU). The duration of the enzyme activity for LinkCD was longer than that of CD enzyme at 37 degrees C: the fusion protein retained 20% of its initial enzyme activity after 24 h, and 12% after 48 h. The LinkCD fusion protein can bind to a hyaluronan oligomer (12-mer) at a K(D) of 55 microM at pH 7.4 and a K(D) of 5.32 microM at pH 6.0 measured using surface plasmon resonance (SPR). To evaluate the antitumor effect of LinkCD/5-FC combination therapy in vivo, mice received intratumoral injections of LinkCD on days 11 and 14 after C26 tumor implantation and the drinking water containing 10 mg/mL of 5-FC starting on day 11. To examine if the Link domain by itself was able to reduce tumor growth, we included treatment groups that received LinkCD without 5-FC and Link-mtCD (a functional mutant that lacks cytosine deaminase activity) with 5-FC. Animals that received LinkCD/5-FC treatment showed significant tumor size reduction and increased survival compared to the CD/5-FC treatment group. Treatment groups that were unable to produce 5-FU had no effect on the tumor growth despite receiving the fusion protein that contained the Link domain. The results indicate that a treatment regime consisting of a fusion protein containing the Link domain, the active CD enzyme, and the prodrug 5-FC is sufficient to produce an antitumor effect. Thus, the LinkCD fusion protein is an alternative to antibody-directed prodrug enzyme therapy (ADEPT) approaches for cancer treatment.
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PMID:Antitumor therapy mediated by 5-fluorocytosine and a recombinant fusion protein containing TSG-6 hyaluronan binding domain and yeast cytosine deaminase. 1926 97

Cytosine deaminase is used in combination with 5-fluorocytosine as an enzyme-prodrug combination for targeted genetic cancer treatment. This approach is limited by inefficient gene delivery and poor prodrug conversion activities. Previously, we reported individual point mutations within the substrate binding pocket of bacterial cytosine deaminase (bCD) that result in marginal improvements in the ability to sensitize cells to 5-fluorocytosine (5FC). Here, we describe an expanded random mutagenesis and selection experiment that yielded enzyme variants, which provide significant improvement in prodrug sensitization. Three of these mutants were evaluated using enzyme kinetic analyses and then assayed in three cancer cell lines for 5FC sensitization, bystander effects, and formation of 5-fluorouracil metabolites. All variants displayed 18- to 19-fold shifts in substrate preference toward 5FC, a significant reduction in IC(50) values and improved bystander effect compared with wild-type bCD. In a xenograft tumor model, the best enzyme mutant was shown to prevent tumor growth at much lower doses of 5FC than is observed when tumor cells express wild-type bCD. Crystallographic analyses of this construct show the basis for improved activity toward 5FC, and also how two different mutagenesis strategies yield closely related but mutually exclusive mutations that each result in a significant alteration of enzyme specificity.
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PMID:Bacterial cytosine deaminase mutants created by molecular engineering show improved 5-fluorocytosine-mediated cell killing in vitro and in vivo. 1948 91

The ability of human adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells (AT-MSCs), engineered to express the suicide gene cytosine deaminase::uracil phosphoribosyltransferase (CD::UPRT), to convert the relatively nontoxic 5-fluorocytosine (5-FC) into the highly toxic antitumor 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) together with their ability to track and engraft into tumors and micrometastases makes these cells an attractive tool to activate prodrugs directly within the tumor mass. In this study, we tested the feasibility and efficacy of these therapeutic cells to function as cellular vehicles of prodrug-activating enzymes in prostate cancer (PC) therapy. In in vitro migration experiments we have shown that therapeutic AT-MSCs migrated to all the prostate cell lines tested. In a pilot preclinical study, we observed that coinjections of human bone metastatic PC cells along with the transduced AT-MSCs into nude mice treated with 5-FC induced a complete tumor regression in a dose dependent manner or did not even allow the establishment of the tumor. More importantly, we also demonstrated that the therapeutic cells were effective in significantly inhibiting PC tumor growth after intravenous administration that is a key requisite for any clinical application of gene-directed enzyme prodrug therapies.
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PMID:Adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells expressing prodrug-converting enzyme inhibit human prostate tumor growth. 1984 97

Tumor-selective replicating viruses are attractive tools for cancer gene therapy, but generally achieve only transitory tumor suppression. However, replicating retrovirus vectors (RRVs) can achieve highly efficient and tumor-selective transduction, as well as persistent expression of transgenes. We therefore developed RRVs that express the yeast cytosine deaminase (yCD) and herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase (TK), which exhibit remarkably enhanced cytotoxicity after administration of the prodrugs 5-fluorocytosine (5-FC) and ganciclovir (GCV) concomitant with the efficiency of their replicative spread, and tested their therapeutic effect in vitro and in vivo. In subcutaneous MDA-MB-435 human breast cancer xenograft models, RRV-mediated yCD and TK suicide gene therapy significantly suppressed tumor growth after prodrug administration. Notably, no systemic spread of the vector to extratumoral tissues was detected. Our results thus demonstrate that efficient, tumor-selective, and stable integration achieved by RRVs causes efficient cell killing upon prodrug administration, resulting in significant suppression of tumor growth.
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PMID:Highly efficient gene transfer to solid tumors in vivo by tumor-selective replicating retrovirus vectors. 2037 21

Suicide genes have recently emerged as an attractive alternative therapy for the treatment of various types of intractable cancers. The efficacy of suicide gene therapy relies on efficient gene delivery to target tissues and the localized concentration of final gene products. Here, we showed a potential ex vivo therapy that used mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) as cellular vehicles to deliver a bacterial suicide gene, cytosine deaminase (CD) to brain tumors. MSCs were engineered to produce CD enzymes at various levels using different promoters. When co-cultured, CD-expressing MSCs had a bystander, anti-cancer effect on neighboring C6 glioma cells in proportion to the levels of CD enzymes that could convert a nontoxic prodrug, 5-fluorocytosine (5-FC) into cytotoxic 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) in vitro. Consistent with the in vitro results, for early stage brain tumors induced by intracranial inoculation of C6 cells, transplantation of CD-expressing MSCs reduced tumor mass in proportion to 5-FC dosages. However, for later stage, established tumors, a single treatment was insufficient, but only multiple transplantations were able to successfully repress tumor growth. Our findings indicate that the level of total CD enzyme activity is a critical parameter that is likely to affect the clinical efficacy for CD gene therapy. Our results also highlight the potential advantages of autograftable MSCs compared with other types of allogeneic stem cells for the treatment of recurrent glioblastomas through repetitive treatments.
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PMID:The growth of brain tumors can be suppressed by multiple transplantation of mesenchymal stem cells expressing cytosine deaminase. 2047 73

Recent studies have shown that genetically engineered stem cells (GESTECs) to produce suicide enzymes that convert non-toxic prodrugs to toxic metabolites selectively migrate toward tumor sites and reduce tumor growth. In the present study, we evaluated whether these GESTECs were capable of migrating to human ovarian cancer cells and examined the potential therapeutic efficacy of the gene-directed enzyme prodrug therapy against ovarian cancer cells in vitro. The expression of cytosine deaminase (CD) or carboxyl esterase (CE) mRNA of GESTECs was confirmed by RT-PCR. A modified transwell migration assay was performed to determine the migratory capacity of GESTECs to ovarian cancer cells. GESTECs (HB1.F3.CD or HB1.F3.CE cells) engineered to express a suicide gene (CD or CE) selectively migrated toward ovarian cancer cells. A [(3)H] thymidine incorporation assay was conducted to measure the proliferative index. Treatment of human epithelial ovarian cancer cell line (SKOV-3, an ovarian adenocarcinoma derived from the ascites of an ovarian cancer patient) with the prodrugs 5-fluorocytosine (5-FC) or camptothecin-11 (CPT-11) in the presence of HB1.F3.CD or HB1.F3.CE cells resulted in the inhibition of ovarian cancer cell growth. Based on the data presented herein, we suggest that GESTECs expressing CD/CE may have a potent advantage to selectively treat ovarian cancers.
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PMID:Influence of the prodrugs 5-fluorocytosine and CPT-11 on ovarian cancer cells using genetically engineered stem cells: tumor-tropic potential and inhibition of ovarian cancer cell growth. 2070 76

Several antiangiogenic drugs targeting VEGF/VEGF receptor (VEGFR) that were approved by the Food and Drug Administration for many cancer types, including colorectal and lung cancer, can effectively reduce tumor growth. However, targeting the VEGF signaling pathway will probably influence the normal function of endothelial cells in maintaining homeostasis and can cause unwanted adverse effects. Indeed, emerging experimental evidence suggests that VEGF-targeting therapy induced less tumor cell-specific cytotoxicity, allowing residual cells to become more resistant and eventually develop a more malignant phenotype. We report an antitumor therapeutic EndoCD fusion protein developed by linking endostatin (Endo) to cytosine deaminase and uracil phosphoribosyltransferase (CD). Specifically, Endo possesses tumor antiangiogenesis activity that targets tumor endothelial cells, followed by CD, which converts the nontoxic prodrug 5-fluorocytosine (5-FC) to the cytotoxic antitumor drug 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) in the local tumor area. Moreover, selective targeting of tumor sites allows an increasing local intratumoral concentration of 5-FU, thus providing high levels of cytotoxic activity. We showed that treatment with EndoCD plus 5-FC, compared with bevacizumab plus 5-FU treatment, significantly increased the 5-FU concentration around tumor sites and suppressed tumor growth and metastasis in human breast and colorectal orthotropic animal models. In addition, in contrast to treatment with bevacizumab/5-FU, EndoCD/5-FC did not induce cardiotoxicity leading to heart failure in mice after long-term treatment. Our results showed that, compared with currently used antiangiogenic drugs, EndoCD possesses potent anticancer activity with virtually no toxic effects and does not increase tumor invasion or metastasis. Together, these findings suggest that EndoCD/5-FC could become an alternative option for future antiangiogenesis therapy.
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PMID:Dual targeting of tumor angiogenesis and chemotherapy by endostatin-cytosine deaminase-uracil phosphoribosyltransferase. 2161 Jan 70


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