Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0019204 (hepatocellular carcinoma)
 71,386 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

MTX cytotoxicity is not fully explained by its well-known inhibition of dihydrofolate reductase activity which leads to a decrease in the dTMP synthase reaction, since TdR kinase which converts TdR to dTMP could readily circumvent MTX action through this salvage activity. TdR kinase is of particular significance, since in various types of carcinoma cells its activity is orders of magnitude higher than that of dTMP synthase. To throw light on this problem, we tested the hypothesis that the impact of MTX treatment might in fact involve an inhibition or decrease in TdR kinase activity. Injection in rat of MTX (i.p.) decreased TdR kinase activity in a time- and dose-dependent fashion in liver (t1/2 = 46 h; IC50 = 95 mg/kg), bone marrow (t1/2 = 10 h; IC50 = 5 mg/kg) and rapidly growing transplantable hepatoma 3924A (t1/2 = 56 h; IC50 = 5 mg/kg). Injection in rat of cycloheximide (15 mg/kg, i.p.), an inhibitor of protein biosynthesis, rapidly decreased TdR kinase activity in the hepatoma (t1/2 = 3.6 h); activities of other purine and pyrimidine synthetic enzymes, dTMP synthase, IMP dehydrogenase, GMP reductase and GMP synthase, declined at a markedly slower rate (t1/2 = 11, 11.6, 12 and 22 h, respectively). MTX, by curtailing purine and pyrimidine biosynthesis, limits product of TdR kinase which is more sensitive to unopposed protein degradation than other enzymes of nucleic acid biosynthesis. TdR kinase is a newly discovered target of MTX treatment.
 ...
PMID:Methotrexate decreases thymidine kinase activity. 152 Mar 43

A study on the oncolytic activity of the L-cysteine derivative L-cysteine, ethyl ester, S-(N-methylcarbamate) monohydrochloride (NSC 303861), revealed that the drug caused complete regression of the MX-1 human mammary tumor xenograft. The compound also exhibited moderate antitumor activity against murine leukemia P388 (T/C value of 169% at a daily dose of 400 mg/kg) and against M5076 sarcoma (T/C value of 135% at a daily dose of 600 mg/kg). The drug was inactive against B16 melanoma, Lewis lung, colon 38 and CD8F1 mammary carcinomas. The compound exhibited significant cytotoxicity against hepatoma 3924A cells in culture (LC50 = 6 microM). Studies on the mechanism of action revealed that the cytotoxicity of the drug could be partially abrogated by protecting hepatoma 3924A cells in culture with L-glutamine. At 6 h after injection of the compound (400 mg/kg) into rats bearing hepatoma 3924A, the pools of L-glutamine and L-glutamate in the tumor decreased to 33% and 71%, respectively, of control levels; the drug selectively inhibited the activities of L-glutamine-requiring enzymes of purine nucleotide biosynthesis, amidophosphoribosyltransferase, FGAM synthase, and GMP synthase, to 21%, 1%, and 69%, respectively, without significantly altering the activities of pyrimidine biosynthetic enzymes, carbamoylphosphate synthase II and CTP synthase. Measurement of the nucleotide concentrations further corroborated the actions of the drug on the purine nucleotide biosynthetic enzyme activities. Drug injection (400 mg/kg) in the hepatoma 3924A-bearing rats reduced the concentrations of IMP in the tumor to 52%, those of total adenylates to 52%, those of total guanylates to 57%, and those of NAD to 73%, without significantly perturbing the pyrimidine nucleotide pools. Studies on the mechanism of action of the L-cysteine derivative suggested that the compound behaved as an L-glutamine antagonist, selectively acting on the enzymes of purine nucleotide biosynthesis.
 ...
PMID:Oncolytic activity and mechanism of action of a novel L-cysteine derivative, L-cysteine, ethyl ester, S-(N-methylcarbamate) monohydrochloride. 234 42

The flux activities of de novo and salvage purine synthesis were compared in rat hepatoma 3924A cells in various growth phases. The initial rate assays of [14C]adenine, [14C]hypoxanthine, and [14C]guanine incorporation yielded Michaelis-Menten kinetics with Kms of 5, 7, and 7 microM, respectively. After replating plateau phase cells in lag and log phases the activity of purine de novo pathway increased 4.5- to 8-fold with a preferential rise in guanylate synthesis, whereas purine salvage activities increased only 1.6- to 2.1-fold. However, for the syntheses of IMP, AMP, and GMP, the activities of purine salvage pathways were 2- to 7-fold, 5- to 28-fold, and 2- to 32-fold higher than those of the de novo purine pathway. Treatment of cells with acivicin, an inhibitor of the activity of amidophosphoribosyltransferase, phosphoribosylformylglycinamidine synthase, and GMP synthase, inhibited the flux activities of de novo purine, adenylate, and guanylate syntheses to 37, 73, and 3% of the controls and decreased the concentration of GTP to 42%; the concentration of ATP did not change and that of 5-phosphoribosyl 1-pyrophosphate increased 3.1-fold. Under these conditions the activities of salvage synthesis from hypoxanthine and guanine were enhanced 2.5-fold. Treatment of hepatoma cells with IMP dehydrogenase inhibitors, tiazofurin, ribavirin, and 4-carbamoylimidazolium 5-olate, to block de novo guanylate synthesis accelerated the flux activity of guanine salvage pathway. The higher capacity of purine salvage pathway than that of the de novo one and the further rise of the activity in response to the drugs targeted against the de novo pathway highlight the important role salvage synthesis might play in circumventing the impact of antimetabolites of de novo purine synthesis in cancer chemotherapy.
 ...
PMID:Significance of purine salvage in circumventing the action of antimetabolites in rat hepatoma cells. 246