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

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.
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PMID:Oncolytic activity and mechanism of action of a novel L-cysteine derivative, L-cysteine, ethyl ester, S-(N-methylcarbamate) monohydrochloride. 234 42

The metabolism of deoxycytidine (dCyd) and dCyd nucleotides in Yoshida ascites sarcoma (YS) cells and the host rat liver was investigated with reference to the increased excretion of urinary dCyd. Incorporation of [14C]orotic acid into the livers of rats at the fifth day after the transplantation of YS cells, the time when the amount of excretion of dCyd in urine was near maximal, was 2 times higher than that into the normal rat livers. After the injection of [14C]orotic acid, the ratio of the specific radioactivity of cytidylate to uridylate moieties of the host liver RNA was measured and found to be higher than that of normal rat liver RNA and to be similar to that of YS cell RNA. When [14C]orotic acid was injected into rats followed by the transplantation of YS cells, the radioactivities present in the livers disappeared more rapidly than those in the control rat livers. The activities of pyrimidine de novo synthesis enzymes, such as cytidine triphosphate synthetase (EC 6.3.4.2) and cytidine diphosphate reductase (EC 1.17.4.1), in YS were higher than those in both rat ascites hepatoma AH 7974 and Walker 256 carcinosarcoma, the transplantations of which did not induce increased excretion of dCyd into urine of the hosts. The activities of dCyd kinase (EC 2.7.1.10) and dCyd deaminase (EC 3.5.4.5) in YS cells were lower than those in the other two tumors investigated. The activities of cytidine triphosphate synthetase and cytidine diphosphate reductase in the livers of YS-bearing rats were elevated compared with those in the livers of rat ascites hepatoma AH 7974- or Walker 256 carcinosarcoma-bearing rats and normal rats, while the activities of dCyd kinase, 5'-nucleotidase (EC 3.1.3.5), and dCyd deaminase were similar between normal rat livers and tumor-bearing rat livers. These results suggest that the increased excretion of urinary dCyd in YS-bearing rats could be caused by both the stimulation of the synthesis of dCyd nucleotides and the low activity of dCyd deaminase in YS cells as well as in the host liver.
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PMID:Origin of increased deoxycytidine excretion into urine of rats bearing Yoshida ascites sarcoma. 672 78

The antiglutamine agent acivicin, L-(alpha S,5S)-alpha-amino-3-chloro-4,5-dihydro-5-isoxazoleacetic acid, inhibited the growth of hepatoma 3924A cells in culture. After 7 days of incubation with the drug, an LC50 of 1.4 microM was observed by determination of colony forming ability. A combination of cytidine (1 mM), deoxycytidine (10 microM) and guanosine (10 microM) completely protected the hepatoma cells against the cytotoxic action of acivicin, but each nucleoside by itself had no effect. Acivicin (0.1 mM) inhibited the incorporation of uridine and thymidine into macromolecules, but not that of leucine. Acivicin depressed the pools of CTP, GTP, dCTP, dGTP and dTTP to 46, 62, 40, 64 and 53%, respectively, but it increased UTP level to 152% of the values of untreated cancer cells. The activity of a highly purified CTP synthetase (EC 6.3.4.2) from rat liver and hepatoma 3924A was inhibited by acivicin. The inhibition was competitive with respect to L-glutamine, and the Ki values with liver and hepatoma enzymes, determined by Dixon and reciprocal plots, were 1.1 and 3.6 microM respectively. The hydroxy analog of acivicin was also a competitive inhibitor, but it was less effective than acivicin, with a Ki value of 1.8 mM for the hepatoma enzyme. Our observations on the impact of acivicin on the behavior of pools of ribonucleotides and deoxyribonucleotides and the competitive inhibition of purified CTP synthetase from hepatoma cells suggest that a major mechanism of action for this drug is the inhibition of CTP synthetase and GMP synthetase (EC 6.3.5.2).
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PMID:Biochemical pharmacology of acivicin in rat hepatoma cells. 715 Mar 66

CTP synthase (CTPS) can aggregate into an intracellular macrostructure, the cytoophidium, in various organisms including human cells. Previous studies have shown that assembly of human CTPS cytoophidia may be correlated with the cellular metabolic status, and is able to promote the activity of CTPS. A correlation between the cytoophidium and cancer metabolism has been proposed but not yet been revealed. In the current study we provide clear evidence of the presence of CTPS cytoophidia in various human cancers and some non-cancerous tissues. Moreover, among 203 tissue samples of hepatocellular carcinoma, 56 (28%) samples exhibited many cytoophidia, whereas no cytoophidia were detected in adjacent non-cancerous hepatocytes for all samples. Our findings suggest that the CTPS cytoophidium may participate in the adaptive metabolism of human hepatocellular carcinoma.
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PMID:CTP synthase forms the cytoophidium in human hepatocellular carcinoma. 2909 81