Toxicity of fotemustine in rat hepatocytes and mechanism-based protection against it

Fotemustine is a relatively novel DNA-alkylating 2-chloroethyl-substituted N-nitrosourea (CENU) drug, clinically used for the treatment of disseminated malignant melanoma in different visceral and non-visceral tissues. Thrombocytopenia has been observed in patients treated with fotemustine and liver and renal toxicities as well. In this study, firstly the metabolism of fotemustine was investigated in vitro and secondly the undesired cytotoxicity of fotemustine as well as different ways of protection against it. In rat hepatocytes, chosen as a model system, fotemustine was shown to cause lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) leakage, glutathione (GSH) depletion, GSSG-formation and lipid peroxidation (LPO). A reactive metabolite, DEP-isocyanate, is most likely responsible for these undesired cytotoxic effects. Based on the observed cytotoxicity mechanisms, chemoprotection with several sulfhydryl-containing nucleophiles and antioxidants was investigated. The sulfhydryl nucleophiles, GSH, N-acetyl-

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-cysteine (NAC) and glutathione isopropylester (GSH-IP) protected almost completely against fotemustine-induced LDH-leakage and LPO. NAC and GSH protected partly against fotemustine-induced GSH-depletion. The antioxidant, vitamin E protected completely against fotemustine-induced LPO, but only partly against fotemustine-induced LDH-leakage and not against GSH-depletion. Ebselen, a peroxidase-mimetic organoselenium compound, did not show protective effects against the cytotoxicity of fotemustine, possibly because GSH is required for the bioactivation of ebselen. It is concluded that co-administration of sulfhydryl nucleophiles, in particular NAC and GSH-IP, possibly in combination with antioxidants, such as vitamin E, are effective against the toxicity of fotemustine in vitro. It might, therefore, be worthwhile to investigate the cytoprotective potency of these agents against undesired toxicities of fotemustine in vivo as well.     

辅因子S-腺苷-L-甲硫氨酸甲基类似物及其应用

甲基化在生物学过程中发挥着重要作用。S-腺苷-L-甲硫氨酸(S-adenosyl-L-methionine, SAM)作为一种广泛存在于生命体中的辅因子,是大多数生物甲基化反应的甲基供体。SAM依赖型甲基转移酶(methyltransferases, MTase)通过将甲基从SAM分子特异性转移到底物,从而改变底物分子的各种理化性质和生物活性。近年来,许多具有替代甲基取代基的SAM类似物被合成并应用于甲基转移酶,以将不同修饰的基团特异性地转移到甲基转移酶的底物上,从而引入标记官能团或者新的烷基修饰。本文主要综述了近年来该领域不同SAM甲基类似物在合成和应用方面取得的进展,并对这一领域未来的研究方向进行展望。     

Mathematical modelling of ATP, K and Na interactions with (Na + K)-ATPase occurring under equilibrium conditions

The controlling effect of ATP, K⁺ and Na⁺ on the rate of (Na⁺ + K⁺)-ATPase inactivation by 7-chloro-4-nitrobenzo-2-oxa-1,3-diazole (NBD-Cl) is used for the mathematical modelling of the interaction of the effectors with the enzyme under equilibrium conditions.

1. 1. Of a series of conceivable interaction models, designed without conceptual restrictions to describe the effector control of inactivation kinetics, only one fits the experimental data described in a preceding paper.

2. 2. The model is characterized by the coexistence of two binding sites for ATP and the coexistence of two separate binding sites for K⁺ and Na⁺ on the enzyme-ATP complex. On the basis of this model, the effector parameters fitting the experimental data most closely are estimated by means of nonlinear least-squares fits.

3. 3. The apparent dissociation constants for ATP of the enzyme-ATP complex or of the enzyme-(ATP)₂ complex are computed to lie near 0.0024 mM and 0.34 mM, respectively, irrespective of whether K⁺ and Na⁺ were absent or K⁺ and K⁺ plus Na⁺, respectively, were present in the experiments.

4. 4. The origin of the high and the low affinity site for binding of ATP to the (Na⁺ + K⁺)-ATPase molecule is traced back to the coexistence of two catalytic centres which, although primarily equivalent as to the reactivity of their thiol groups with NBD-Cl, are induced into anticooperative communication by ATP binding and thus show an induced geometric asymmetry.

Models of protein modification in Tris-glycine and neutral pH Bis-Tris gels during electrophoresis: effect of gel pH

The pH of conventional Tris-glycine SDS-PAGE gels during a run is determined to be 9.5, in contrast to Bis-Tris-Mes gels where the pH is 7.2. Concentrations of free acrylamide are determined to be less than 10mM in commercial gels of both types, and it is found that of the major components in these gels, only glycine and protein amine or sulfhydryl functions are likely to react with residual acrylamide during the time frame of typical separations. The addition of acrylamide to sulfhydryl groups on proteins is modeled using glutathione and cysteine at acrylamide concentrations found in the commercial gels. Rate constants are determined for these reactions as well as for reaction with glycine at the pH that proteins will encounter in these gel types. The half-life for glutathione sulfhydryl at 10mM acrylamide and pH 7.2 is more than 4h at room temperature. Rates are significantly lower in Bis-Tris-Mes gels than in Tris-glycine gels, reducing the risk of adventitious protein modification. Commercial Bis-Tris-Mes gels provide a sample reduction buffer at pH 8.5 versus the conventional pH 6.8 of Tris-glycine gels. It is shown that significantly less protein degradation occurs during sample preparation at the higher pH used with Bis-Tris gels.     

N-Alkyl derivatives of 2-amino-2-deoxy-D-glucose

Mono- and di-N-alkylated derivatives of 1,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-2-amino-2-deoxy-beta-D-glucose (alkyl=methyl, ethyl, propyl, butyl, pentyl, hexyl, benzyl) were synthesised by the reductive alkylation of per-O-acetyl-d-glucosamine. (N-ethyl, N-propyl, N-butyl, N-pentyl and N-hexyl)-1,3,4,6-tetra-O-acetyl-2-amino-2-deoxy-beta-D-glucoses were deacetylated in order to attempt an enzymatic phosphorylation. All products were characterised by means of IR, NMR and MS spectra. N-Ethyl- and N-pentyl-d-glucosamines were found to exhibit weak antifungal activity.     

Mutagenesis by N-nitroso compounds: relationships to DNA adducts, DNA repair, and mutational efficiencies

The relationships between DNA alkylation, DNA repair and mutagenesis by N-nitroso compounds in Salmonella were examined. DNA adducts formed by treatment of the bacteria with N-nitroso compounds were monitored. Critical to the study was establishing which adducts led to mutations. Two methods were employed. In one, correlations in the dose-responses for adducts and mutagenesis were sought. For instance O⁶-methyl- and -ethyl-guanine, in contrast to other adducts, exhibited thresholds in their accumulation in Salmonella DNA, and mutagenesis at GC base pairs also exhibited the same threshold, suggesting a dependence of mutagenesis on the O⁶-alkyguanines. In the second method, mutagenesis induced by different mutagens with overlapping adduct spectra was compared. For example, EMS and ENU generate similar ratios of adenine adducts, but only ENU produces thymine adducts, and only ENU induced AT-GC and AT-CG base changes. These observations suggested that ethylthymines led to these mutations. Furthermore, it was found that these mutations were largely dependent on the presence of the plasmid, pKM101, indicating that error-prone repair activity contributes importantly in their processing to mutations. When DNA adducts by N-nitrosopyrrolidine were examined it was found that only one major adduct was detected in an excision-repair-deficient strain, and that this adduct was not present in a repair-proficient strain. Mutagenesis was also greatly reduced in the proficient strain, suggesting that mutagenesis was dependent on this adduct. From the relationships between premutagenic adducts levels adducts. This calculation assumed an average distribution of adducts and mutations and required knowledge of the target size and the types of mutations that could lead to phenotypic changes. For the unrepaired O⁶-methyl- and -ethyl-guanines, and the O-ethylthymines the mutational efficiencies were high (ca. 30–70%), but for the N-nitrosopyrrolidine adduct it was low (ca. 1%). Initial studies were carried out on the mutational specificities of two higher homologue N-nitroso compounds (the N-nitroso-N-propyl- and N-butyl-nitroguanidines) in uvrB/pKM101 strains. This class of nitroso compounds is known to form similar DNA adducts as ENU. Their specificities were similar to that of N-nitroso-N-ethylurea at a high dose except the fraction of mutations at AT base pairs was reduced. The fraction of GC-CG transversions was although low, increased. The mutational specificities of N-nitroso-N-methylurea and N-nitrosopyrrolidine were significantly different from the specificity of ENU as would be expected from their different adduct distributions.     

Stereoselective Synthesis of (R)‐3‐Methylthalidomide by Piperidin‐2‐one Ring Assembly Approach

A simple and stereoselective synthesis of 3‐methylthalidomide, a configurationally stable thalidomide analog, is presented. Herein we describe the synthesis of (R)‐3‐methylthalidomide starting from (S)‐alanine by piperidin‐2‐one ring assembly approach in high yield and enantiomeric purity without using a chiral auxiliary or reagent. Starting from (R)‐alanine, the corresponding (S)‐3‐methylthalidomide can be prepared using the same methodology. Chirality 27:619–624, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Recent advances in the structural mechanisms of DNA glycosylases

DNA glycosylases safeguard the genome by locating and excising a diverse array of aberrant nucleobases created from oxidation, alkylation, and deamination of DNA. Since the discovery 28 years ago that these enzymes employ a base flipping mechanism to trap their substrates, six different protein architectures have been identified to perform the same basic task. Work over the past several years has unraveled details for how the various DNA glycosylases survey DNA, detect damage within the duplex, select for the correct modification, and catalyze base excision. Here, we provide a broad overview of these latest advances in glycosylase mechanisms gleaned from structural enzymology, highlighting features common to all glycosylases as well as key differences that define their particular substrate specificities.     

Gas-Phase Cleavage and Dephosphorylation of Universal Linker-Bound Oligodeoxynucleotides

While base-specific support is commonly used for single-column oligodeoxynucleotide synthesis, the universal linker is critical for high-throughput synthesis of potentially thousands of samples in a single run. Here, we report conditions for cleavage and complete dephosphorylation of two commercial universal linkers, UnySupport and UnyLinker, processed in the gas phase (NH₃) using our custom device. First, we compared the average yield of T10mers over time (15, 30, 60, 120, and 240 minutes, 40 psi, 80°C and 90°C). For samples processed with water added prior to incubation, we discovered a substantial increase in yield compared to those left dry (up to 55%). This was also the case for samples subjected to increases in chamber pressure (10, 20, 30 and 40 psi, 120 minutes, 80°C and 90°C). Next, we compared the effects of increased temperature, pressure and incubation times on the rates of dephosphorylation. We found the optimum conditions to be either 10 psi, 120 minutes at 80°C or 60 minutes at 90°C; in both cases, water added to columns prior to incubation had a substantial effect on rate of reaction as well as overall yield compared with those left dry. Finally, performance between the two linkers was similar enough to conclude each fulfills the desired requirements for mainstream, high-throughput oligodeoxynucleotide cleavage/deprotection and dephosphorylation in the gas phase.     

Synthesis of “Reversed” Methylenecyclopropane Analogues of Antiviral Phosphonates

Synthesis of “reversed” methylenecyclopropane analogues of nucleoside phosphonates 6a,7a, 6b, and 7b is described. 1-Bromo-1-bromomethylcyclopropane 8 was converted to the bromocyclopropyl phosphonate 9 by Michaelis-Arbuzov reaction with triisopropyl phosphite. Base-catalyzed β-elimination and deacetylation gave the key Z- and E-hydroxymethylcyclopropyl phosphonates 10 and 11 separated by chromatography. The Mitsunobu type of alkylation of 10 or 11 with adenine or 2-amino-6-chloropurine afforded phosphonates 12a, 12b, 13a, and 13b. Acid hydrolysis furnished the adenine and guanine analogues 6a, 7a, 6b, and 7b. The E and Z configuration was assigned on the basis of NOE experiments with phosphonates 6b and 7b. All Z- and E-isomers were also distinguished by different chemical shifts of CH₂O or CH₂N (H₄ or H_4′). Significant differences of the chemical shifts of the cyclopropane C_3(3’) carbons and coupling constants ³J_P,C2(2’) or ³J_P,C3(3’) selective for the Z- or E-isomers were also noted. Phosphonates 6a, 7a, 6b, and 7b are devoid of significant antiviral activity.