Potent gene regulatory and antiproliferative activities of 20-methyl analogues of 1,25 dihydroxyvitamin D3.
The biological active form of vitamin D3, 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (VD), regulates cellular growth and differentiation. This provides the hormone with an interesting therapeutic potential. However, hypercalcemia is a side effect, which is caused by VD's classical action, the regulation of calcium homeostasis. This made the need for VD analogues with selectively increased cell regulatory properties. Studies with 20-epi analogues pointed out the importance of the carbon-20 position and led to the development of 20-methyl derivatives of VD. In this report the biological properties of the compounds ZK161422 and ZK157202, which are 20-methyl- and 20-methyl-23-eneanalogues, respectively, have been analyzed in comparison with VD. Both compounds show about 2-fold lower affinity to the VD receptor (VDR) than VD. However, compared to VD, their antiproliferative effect is up to 30-fold higher on human peripheral blood mononuclear cells and even up to 300-fold higher on human breast cancer MCF-7 cells. Whereas the hypercalcemic effect for ZK157202 is also increased 10-fold, ZK161422 has the same calcium-mobilizing potency as VD. Moreover, ZK161422, but not ZK157202, showed preference for gene activation from a promoter carrying a VD response element with a palindromic arrangement of two hexameric receptor binding sites spaced by 9 nucleotides (IP9) rather than for activation from a response element formed by a direct repeat spaced by 3 nucleotides (DR3). This observation supports a model, in which promoter selectivity reflects the selectively increased antiproliferative effect of VD analogues.
Danielsson
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C
Clinique de Dermatologie, Hôpital Cantonal Universitaire, Genève 14, Switzerland.
Nayeri
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S
Wiesinger
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H
Thieroff-Ekerdt
R
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Carlberg
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C
D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism; D002117:Calcitriol / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000494:pharmacology; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000187:drug effects; D002455:Cell Division / Q000187:drug effects; D005260:Female; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000187:drug effects; D018167:Receptors, Calcitriol / Q000378:metabolism; D015533:Transcriptional Activation; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
D018167:Receptors, Calcitriol; C104126:ZK 157202; C104125:ZK 161422; D002117:Calcitriol