title: Metabolic activation of 2,6-diaminopurine and 2,6-diaminopurine-2'-deoxyriboside to antitumor agents.
abstract: 2,6-Diaminopurine (DAP) and 2,6-diaminopurine 2'-deoxyriboside (DAPdR) are analogs of adenine and deoxyadenosine, respectively. It was the purpose of this study to compare these analogs under identical conditions in order to define their inhibitory properties and the underlying mechanism in L1210 mouse leukemia cells. In a 5-day cell growth experiment, DAP exerted a significantly stronger antiproliferative effect than DAPdR. Correspondingly, colony formation of L1210 cells in soft agarose was inhibited by DAP to a greater extent than by DAPdR. A differential distribution of L1210 cells in the cell cycle resulted from an exposure to DAP and DAPdR. While DAPdR arrested cells in the G1/G0 phase of the cell cycle, DAP appeared to lead to an accumulation of G2/M cells. The diaminopurines were combined with modulatory agents to test the antiproliferative action of the combinations. Deoxycytidine partially rescued the cells from the growth inhibitory action of DAPdR without affecting the growth of DAP-treated cells. When adenine was used, the antiproliferative effect of DAPdR was slightly enhanced while the effect of DAP was completely abolished. 8-Aminoguanosine, a specific inhibitor of purine nucleoside phosphorylase, synergistically potentiated the cytostatic effect of DAPdR. However, this inhibitor did not alter DAP effects. At the biochemical level, the target of DAPdR was ribonucleotide reductase which was in line with a drastic expansion of the dGTP pool in DAPdR-treated cells. In cells exposed to DAP, high levels of DAP riboside triphosphate were measured; concomitantly, the ATP level dropped markedly. Enzymological studies revealed that DAPdR is an excellent substrate of adenosine deaminase giving rise to the formation of deoxyguanosine. DAP was found to be activated in the purine nucleoside phosphorylase reaction and in a phosphoribosyl-pyrophosphate-dependent reaction. The data from this comparative study suggest that DAPdR and DAP possess different toxicity mechanisms. DAPdR and DAP possess different toxicity mechanisms. DAPdR acts as a precursor of deoxyguanosine, and DAP is metabolically activated to DAP-containing ribonucleotide analogs. These different metabolic routes seem to account for the different effects of DAP and DAPdR at the cellular level.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, University of South Florida 33612.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Weckbecker
authors.forename: J G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Cory
mesh_terms: D000241:Adenosine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology; D000818:Animals; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000378:metabolism*; D001711:Biotransformation; D002449:Cell Aggregation / Q000187:drug effects; D002453:Cell Cycle / Q000187:drug effects; D002455:Cell Division / Q000187:drug effects; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D003839:Deoxyadenosines / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology; D007700:Kinetics; D007939:Leukemia L1210 / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D051379:Mice; D012265:Ribonucleotides / Q000302:isolation & purification
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D003839:Deoxyadenosines; D012265:Ribonucleotides; C003965:2'-amino-2'-deoxyadenosine; C033854:2-aminoadenosine; D000241:Adenosine