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Biomedical subjects

M Tomasz

Publications and source records attributed to M Tomasz.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

The major mitomycin C-DNA monoadduct is cytotoxic but not mutagenic in Escherichia coli.

To determine the mutagenic and genotoxic properties of the major guanine N2-adduct formed by the antitumor drug mitomycin C, we have synthesized a decanucleotide, d(TTACG[MC]TATCT), containing the adduct, which was inserted into a gapped bacteriophage M13 genome. Analysis of the constructed genome indicated that 41% ligation of the adducted 10-mer occurred on both sides of the gap, whereas the control 10-mer ligated with 34% efficiency. After transfection of the adducted single-stranded M13 DNA into Escherichia coli, the adduct was found to be highly genotoxic. Viability of the adducted genome in a repair-competent strain was only 7%, which increased to 12% and 15% upon induction of SOS by irradiating the cells with 254-nm light at 20 and 50 J/m2, respectively. Even lower viability of 2%, 4.6%, and 0.2% was observed in uvrA, uvrB, and uvrC strains, respectively, which increased up to 10-fold with SOS. An examination of the surviving phage populations revealed that the adduct was not detectably mutagenic. No mutants from the repair-proficient strain were detected after analysis of more than 2500 progeny phage. Only 0.2% of the survivors were mutants in the uvrA strain. It is uncertain, however, if they were induced by the adduct, since all the mutants showed untargeted mutations. We conclude that the major guanine N2-adduct formed by mitomycin C is cytotoxic but not appreciably mutagenic in E. coli.

Bacteriophages

Mitomycin C-DNA adducts generated by DT-diaphorase. Revised mechanism of the enzymatic reductive activation of mitomycin C.

Mitomycin C (MC) was reductively activated by DT-diaphorase [DTD; NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase] from rat liver carcinoma cells in the presence of Micrococcus lysodeicticus DNA at pH 5.8 and 7.4. The resulting alkylated MC-DNA complexes were digested to the nucleoside level and the covalent MC-nucleoside adducts were separated, identified, and quantitatively analyzed by HPLC. In analogous experiments, two other flavoreductases, NADH-cytochrome c reductase and NADPH-cytochrome c reductase, as well as two chemical reductive activating agents Na2S2O4 and H2/PtO2 were employed as activators for the alkylation of DNA by MC. DTD as well as all the other activators generated the four known major guanine-N2-MC adducts at both pHs. In addition, at the lower pH, the guanine-N7-linked adducts of 2,7-diaminomitosene were detectable in the adduct patterns. At a given pH all the enzymatic and chemical reducing agents generated very similar adduct patterns which, however, differed dramatically at the acidic as compared to the neutral pH. Overall yield of MC adducts was 3-4-fold greater at pH 7.4 than at 5. 8 except in the case of DTD when it was 4-fold lower. Without exception, however, cross-link adduct yields were greater at the acidic pH (2-10-fold within the series). The ratio of adducts of bifunctional activation to those of monofunctional activation was 6-20-fold higher at the acidic as compared to the neutral pH. A comprehensive mechanism of the alkylation of DNA by activated MC was derived from the DNA adduct analysis which complements earlier model studies of the activation of MC. The mechanism consists of three competing activation pathways yielding three different DNA-reactive electrophiles 11, 12, and 17 which generate three unique sets of DNA adducts as endproducts. The relative amounts of these adducts are diagnostic of the relative rates of the competing pathways in vitro, and most likely, in vivo. Factors that influence the relative rates of individual pathways were identified.

Alkylation

Mitosene-DNA adducts. Characterization of two major DNA monoadducts formed by 1,10-bis(acetoxy)-7-methoxymitosene upon reductive activation.

Reductive activation of racemic 1,10-bis(acetoxy)-7-methoxymitosene WV15 in the presence of DNA, followed by enzymatic digestion and HPLC analysis, revealed the formation of various DNA adducts. Reduction is a necessary event for adduct formation to occur. This reductive activation was performed under hypoxic conditions in various ways: (1) chemically, using a 2-fold excess of sodium dithionite (Na2S2O4), (2) enzymatically using NADH-cytochrome c reductase, (3) electrochemically on a mercury pool working electrode, and (4) catalytically, using a H2/PtO2 system. Five different mitosene-DNA adducts were detected. These adducts were also present when poly(dG-dC) was used instead of DNA, but were absent with poly(dA-dT). All were shown to be adducts of guanine. Reduction of 1, 10-dihydroxymitosene WV14 in the presence of DNA did not result in detectable adduct formation, demonstrating the importance of good leaving groups for efficient adduct formation by these mitosenes. Finally, two of the adducts were isolated and their structures elucidated, using mass spectrometry, 1H NMR and circular dichroism (CD). The structures were assigned as the diastereoisomers N2-(1"-n-hydroxymitosen-10"-yl), 2'-deoxyguanosine (n = alpha or beta). These type of adducts, in which the mitosene C-10 is covalently bonded to the N-2 of a guanosylic group, are different from the well-known mitomycin C 2'-deoxyguanosine monoadducts, that is linked via the mitomycin C C-1 position, demonstrating that the order of reactivity of the C-1 and C-10 in these mitosenes is reversed, as compared to mitomycin C. The 7-methoxy substituent of WV15 is a likely factor causing this switch. Evidence is presented that the 7-substituent of mitosenes also influences their DNA alkylation site. Adducts 4 and 5 represent the first isolated and structurally characterized covalent adducts of DNA and a synthetic mitosene.

Antineoplastic Agents

Antisense sequence-directed cross-linking of RNA oligonucleotides by mitomycin.

Conjugates of mitomycin C (MC) and 15-mer oligodeoxyribonucleotides (ODNs) were synthesized in which the 7-amino group of MC was tethered by either a (-CH2-)6 or a (-CH2-)12 linker to the 5'-terminal phosphate of the ODNs. The conjugates were shown to be cross-linked selectively to complementary 18-mer oligoribonucleotides (ORNs). The cross-linking was dependent on reductive activation of the MC moiety of the conjugates by NADPH-cytochrome c reductase/NADPH. The cross-linked ODN-ORN hybrid duplexes were characterized as such by degeneration by RNase H. Cross-linking efficiencies of the conjugates were 50 and 25% in the case of the (-CH2-)12 tether and the (-CH2-)6 tether respectively The results demonstrate the feasibility of sequence-targeted alkylation of RNA by MC via antisense recognition.

Antineoplastic Agents, Alkylating

Bending of DNA by the mitomycin C-induced, GpG intrastrand cross-link.

Mitomycin C (MC) forms interstrand and intrastrand cross-link adducts and monoalkylation products (monoadducts) with DNA. Each of the three types of adducts was incorporated site-specifically into both a 15-mer and a 21-mer oligodeoxyribonucleotide duplex. The adduct-containing duplexes were 32P-phosphorylated and ligated to form multimers, which were then analyzed for anomalous electrophoretic mobility by nondenaturing polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, using the method of Koo and Crothers [(1988) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 85, 1763-1767] in order to detect DNA curvature caused by the adducts. The intrastrand cross-link adduct was found to induce a 14.6 +/- 2.0 degrees DNA bend per lesion (minimum value) while no DNA bending was detected for either the interstrand cross-link or the monoadduct. Molecular mechanics modeling indicated that the possible origin of the bend lies in a considerable deviation from parallel of the normals to the best planes of the intrastrand cross-linked guanines, due to a shorter than normal distance between their N2 atoms forced upon them by the cross-link. The observed bending by the MC intrastrand lesion may be the cause of the increased flexibility of MC-modified DNA, localized to distinct regions, as observed in earlier work by hydrodynamic methods and electron microscopy. The MC adduct-caused DNA bend may serve as a recognition site for certain DNA-binding proteins.

Cross-Linking Reagents

Solution structure of the monoalkylated mitomycin C-DNA complex.

Mitomycin C (MC) is a potent antitumor antibiotic which alkylates DNA through covalent linkage of its C-1" position with the exocyclic N2 amino group of guanine to yield the [MC]dG adduct at the duplex level. We report on the solution structure of the monoalkylated MC-DNA 9-mer complex where the [MC]dG5 adduct is positioned opposite dC14 in the d(A3-C4-[MC]G5-T6).d(A13-C14-G15-T16) sequence context. The solution structure was solved based on a combined NMR-molecular dynamics study including NOE intensity based refinement. The formation of the [MC]dG adduct occurs with retention of the Watson-Crick alignment at the [MC]dG5.dC14 base-pair and flanking pairs in the complex. The MC ring is positioned in the minor groove with its indoloquinone aromatic ring system at a approximately 45 degrees angle relative to the helix axis and directed towards the 3'-direction on the unmodified strand. The MC indoloquinone chromophore is asymmetrically positioned in a slightly widened minor groove so that its plane is parallel to and stacked over the d(C14-G15-T16) segment on the unmodified strand with its other face exposed to solvent. The MC five-membered ring adopts an envelope pucker with its C-2" atom displaced from the mean plane and directed away from the unmodified strand. We observe conformational perturbations in the DNA 9-mer duplex on formation of the monoalkylated MC complex. Specifically, the base-pairs are displaced by approximately -3.0 A towards the major groove on positioning the MC in the minor groove. This perturbation is accompanied by base stacking patterns similar to those observed in A-DNA while the majority of the sugars adopt puckers characteristic of B-DNA. Conformational perturbations as monitored by helix twist, sugar pucker pseudorotation and glycosidic torsion angles are also observed for the d(T6-C7-I8).d(C11-G12-A13) segment that is adjacent to but does not overlap the MC binding on the 9-mer duplex. We note that the O-10" atom on the carbamate side-chain of MC forms an intermolecular hydrogen bond with the exocyclic amino group of dG15 in two of the three refined structures of the complex. The solution structure of the complex containing this intramolecular hydrogen bond readily explains both the previously observed d(C-G).d(C-G) sequence requirement for cross-linking and the observed, somewhat less stringent, requirement of the same sequence for the initial monoalkylation step.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Alkylation

Binding of 2,7-diaminomitosene to DNA: model for the precovalent recognition of DNA by activated mitomycin C.

Mitomycin C (MC), mitomycin A, porfiromycin, BMY-25067, and BMY-25287, antitumor antibiotics collectively termed "mitosanes", were found to have no appreciable binding affinity to various natural and synthetic DNAs, as tested by UV spectrophotometry and equilibrium dialysis. Further tests of DNA binding applied to MC including thermal melting measurements, displacement of ethidium fluorescence, and unwinding of closed circular DNA were similarly negative. In contrast, 2,7-diaminomitosene (2,7-DAM), a major end product of the reductive activation of MC, binds to the same series of DNAs by all of these criteria. In the presence of DNA its UV absorbance at the 313 nm maximum decreased and underwent a slight red shift. This effect was used for determining DNA binding constants (Kb) by the spectrophotometric titration method. At pH 6.0 the Kbs of three natural DNAs with varying GC content, as well as poly(dA-dT).poly(dA-dT), and poly(dG-dC).poly(dG-dC), were all in the range of (1.2-5.3) x 10(4) (M nucleotide)-1, with no apparent specificity of binding. Poly(dG-m5dC).poly(dG-m5dC) displayed a slightly higher Kb ((7.5-8.4) x 10(4)). Binding of other, closely related mitosenes was tested to calf thymus DNA by equilibrium dialysis. Neither the presence of a 1-OH substituent, removal of the 10-carbamoyl group, nor methylation of the 2-amino group modifies the binding affinity of the mitosenes significantly. The 1-phosphate substituent abolishes binding. The binding of 2,7-DAM to DNA increased with decreasing pH and decreasing ionic strength. It was determined that 2,7-DAM is protonated at the 2-amino group with a pKa = 7.55, and this correlated well with the observed pH dependence of the binding, indicating that the binding affinity has a strong electrostatic component. This was confirmed by the finding that the extrapolated Kb to 1 M Na+ concentration diminishes to only 10% of the value of Kb at 0.01 M Na+ concentration. Viscosity tests showed conclusively that 2,7-DAM intercalates in DNA, in a nonspecific manner. DNA binding by 2,7-DAM is shown to be a close model of the binding of the reduced activated form of MC, previously characterized indirectly [Teng, S. P., Woodson, S. A., and Crothers, D. M. (1989) Biochemistry 28, 3901-3907]. The nonspecific precovalent binding of the active form may serve in the cell to concentrate the drug at its critical target, DNA.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals

Selective recognition of the m5CpG dinucleotide sequence in DNA by mitomycin C for alkylation and cross-linking.

The clinically used natural antitumor agent mitomycin C (MC) is known to alkylate DNA monofunctionally and bifunctionally, resulting in the cross-linking of DNA. These reactions occur selectively with guanines at the CpG sequence. We show, confirming a previous report (Millard, J. T.; Beachy, T. M. Biochemistry 1993, 32, 12850) that cross-linking in oligonucleotides is further enhanced when the cytosines in CpG.CpG are 5-methylated to m5CpG.m5CpG. It is shown, furthermore, that guanines in m5CpG are monoalkylated two- to three-times faster than in CpG indicating that the m5C-induced rate enhancement occurs at the first, monoalkylation step of the two-step cross-linking process. The same MC-DNA adducts are formed in methylated as in non-methylated DNA. The basepaired but not the 5'-flanking, m5C residue is responsible for the enhanced alkylation of guanine. Enzymatically activated or Na2S2O4-activated MC shows identical rate-enhancement of alkylation at m5CpG. pBR322 DNA methylated by CpG-methylase was cross-linked two- to three-times more efficiently by MC than non-methylated DNA, indicating that the m5C effect is not an artifact of oligonucleotides. An electronic effect of the 5-methyl group of cytosine transmitted via G.C H-bonding to N2 of guanine is suggested as responsible for increased reactivity with MC. CpG is severely depleted in mammalian DNA and it is speculated that this factor attenuates MC cytotoxicity in human cells.

Alkylation

Mitomycin C: small, fast and deadly (but very selective).

Mitomycin C, an important antitumor drug and antibiotic, has an extraordinary ability to crosslink DNA with high efficiency and absolute specificity for the sequence CpG. Recent results have shown how mitomycin C crosslinks DNA, and why the sequence specificity is so complete. This new understanding may allow the design of agents that mimic mitomycin C's economy of structure and can crosslink other sequences.

Antibiotics, Antineoplastic

Structural and function modification of DNA by mitomycin C. Mechanism of the DNA sequence specificity of mitomycins.

Mitomycin C (MC) is a clinically used antitumor agent, which upon reductive activation activates and cross-links DNA. The covalent products of alkylation and cross-linking by the unnatural synthetic enantiomer of MC (ent-MC) were isolated as drug-deoxyguanosine monoadducts and drug-deoxyguanosine bisadducts and were fully characterized structurally. Specificity of alkylation and cross-linking of guanines in the CpG.CpG sequence was observed by ent-MC, similarly to that observed previously by MC. These findings define the mechanism of recognition of the CpG.CpG sequence of DNA by the mitomycins in the minor groove. In contrast, the natural MC metabolite, 2,7-diaminomitosene (2,7-DAM) which lacks the aziridine alkylator function is shown to recognize and alkylate guanines only the GpG.CpC sequence in the major groove, by a different mechanism. Thoughts on the molecular evolution of the basic mitomycin structure as a very efficient lethal DNA cross-linker are discussed.

Antibiotics, Antineoplastic

Mitomycin C: a prototype bioreductive agent.

Hypoxic cells of solid tumors represent a therapeutically resistant population that limits the curability of many solid tumors by x-irradiation and by most chemotherapeutic agents. The oxygen deficit, however, creates an environment conducive to reductive processes that results in a major exploitable difference between normal and neoplastic tissues. Mitomycin C (MC) can be reductively activated by a number of oxidoreductases, in a process required for the production of its therapeutic effects. This enzymatic reduction results in preferential activation of MC under hypoxia and, in most instances, the production of greater toxicity to oxygen-deficient cells than to their oxygenated counterparts. DNA appears to be the most important target of the reactive species generated from MC, with both mono- and bis-adducts of DNA being formed in drug-treated cells. The demonstration that MC, used to kill the hypoxic fraction, in combination with x-irradiation, to eradicate the oxygenated portion of the tumor, produced enhanced cytodestructive effects on solid tumors of animals has led to the clinical evaluation of the mitomycin antibiotics in combination with x-rays in patients with cancers of the head and neck. The findings from these clinical trials have demonstrated the utility of directing a concerted therapeutic attack on the hypoxic fraction of solid tumors as an approach toward enhancing the curability of localized neoplasms by x-irradiation.

Animals

Adducts of mitomycin C and DNA in EMT6 mouse mammary tumor cells: effects of hypoxia and dicumarol on adduct patterns.

6-CH3-3H-Mitomycin C (MC) was used to identify MC-DNA adducts formed in EMT6 mouse mammary tumor cells. DNA was isolated from cells treated with 3H-MC. The DNA was enzymatically digested, and the digest was analyzed for 3H-labeled adducts by high performance liquid chromatography. All four major adducts previously isolated and characterized in cell-free systems were detected: two different monoadducts and two bisadducts forming DNA-interstrand and DNA-intrastrand cross-links, respectively. No MC-DNA adducts other than the DNA interstrand cross-link had been shown previously to be formed in living cells. A MC-deoxyguanosine adduct of unknown structure was also detected in DNA from EMT6 cells; this adduct was also formed with purified EMT6 DNA. High performance liquid chromatography analysis was further applied to study the relationship between DNA adducts and cytotoxicity. The number of adducts increased with the concentration of MC in both aerobic and hypoxic cells. At a constant drug level, more adducts were observed in cells treated under hypoxic conditions than in cells treated aerobically; at 2 microM MC, 4.8 x 10(-7) and 3.1 x 10(-7) adducts/nucleotide were observed under hypoxic and aerobic conditions, respectively. The increased adduct frequency under hypoxia correlates with the known increased cytotoxicity of MC to EMT6 cells under hypoxic conditions. In addition, a higher ratio of cross-linked adducts to monoadducts was observed in hypoxic cells. The high performance liquid chromatography techniques were also used to examine the effects of dicumarol (DIC) on adduct patterns in cells treated simultaneously with 3H-MC. The MC-DNA adduct frequencies in DIC-treated cells were increased 1.5-fold under hypoxia and decreased 1.6-fold under aerobic conditions from those observed without DIC. This finding correlates with the known DIC-induced increase and decrease in the cytotoxicity of MC in hypoxic and aerobic EMT6 cells, respectively. The monoadduct resulting from monofunctionally activated MC was suppressed by DIC under both hypoxic and aerobic conditions. In addition, DIC induced the selective formation of an unknown DNA-associated radiolabeled substance in hypoxic cells; this is hypothesized to be a cytotoxic DNA lesion produced by a DIC-stimulated oxido-reductase. The methodology developed to measure MC adduct patterns may be useful as an indicator of distinct enzymatic activation processes for this drug.

Aerobiosis

Effect of site-specifically located mitomycin C-DNA monoadducts on in vitro DNA synthesis by DNA polymerases.

A series of site-specifically modified oligodeoxynucleotides were synthesized that contained either of the two known mitomycin C-DNA monoadducts. In vitro DNA synthesis was carried out on some of these templates using a modified bacteriophage T7 DNA polymerase (Sequenase), AMV reverse transcriptase, and two different varieties of Escherichia coli DNA polymerase I (Klenow fragment)--one that carries the normal 3'-->5' exonuclease activity and a mutant protein that lacks this enzymatic function. Regardless of the type of DNA polymerase being used, DNA synthesis was terminated nearly quantitatively at the nucleotide 3' to each of these two monoadduct sites, although primer extension to full length of the template was noted with the unmodified control template. Substitution of Mn2+ for Mg2+ at a high concentration of the deoxynucleotide triphosphates resulted in incorporation of nucleotides opposite the adduct in the incubations with Sequenase or the 3'-->5' exonuclease-free Klenow fragment; however, primer extension beyond the adduct site did not take place. These studies demonstrated that the mitomycin monoadducts are strong blocks of replication and are likely to be toxic lesions in vivo. Since previous molecular modeling studies and molecular mechanical calculations indicated that the mitomycin adduction does not induce severe distortions at the site of adduction, a lack of base-pairing ability of the modified base in the extended product is unlikely to be the reason for the inhibitory effect. Instead, energy-minimized structural models indicated that additional hydrogen-bonding interactions have been introduced by the mitomycin moiety, and perhaps this increased thermodynamic stabilization of a distorted structure of the replication fork, in turn, may block the replication bypass. Experimental evidence of increased thermodynamic stability was provided by thermal melting of a template/primer complex that presumably a polymerase encounters in a typical replication fork. Consistently higher Tm of the adducted "replication fork" was noted when compared to its unmodified counterpart.

Base Sequence

Orientation isomers of the mitomycin C interstrand cross-link in non-self-complementary DNA. Differential effect of the two isomers on restriction endonuclease cleavage at a nearby site.

Reductively activated mitomycin C (MC) forms DNA interstrand cross-links between two guanines at CG.CG sequences. It is predictable that such cross-links should occur in two isomeric strand orientations in duplex DNA (except when located in the center of a self-complementary duplex). This was verified by the isolation and characterization of a pair of two isomeric oligonucleotides in each case of five non-self-complementary duplexes of 8-bp length, cross-linked by MC. Isomer separation was accomplished by reverse-phase HPLC. The isomers in a pair were formed in approximately 1:1 proportion. Their structures were rigorously characterized by a two-step cross-linking procedure: first, 1''-monoalkylation of each strand, followed by conversion to a cross-linked duplex by annealing the monoalkylated strand to its complement in the presence of a reducing agent. The resulting individual authentic orientation isomers were used as standards for identification of the two isomers formed in the original (one-step) cross-linking reactions. A 16-bp duplex oligonucleotide was synthesized featuring the AluI cognate sequence, separated from a MC cross-link site by only 1 bp. Its two MC cross-linked isomers were prepared separately, and their rate of cleavage by AluI was determined using HPLC. Cleavage of both the unmodified and cross-linked duplexes was nonsymmetrical. The isomer in which the 2''-NH3+ of MC is oriented toward the AluI site was cleaved essentially at the same rate as the control duplex, while cleavage of the isomer with the MC indoloquinone group oriented toward the AluI site was inhibited 2-fold at the faster-cleaved strand.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Base Sequence

Cellular pharmacology of quinone bioreductive alkylating agents.

The cellular pharmacology of the mitomycin bioreductive alkylating agents is complex. This reflects in part the chemical characteristics of these quinones, which have multiple sites of reactivity and the capacity to produce a large number of different lesions of biological importance. Moreover, at least six different enzymes are capable of activating these compounds; the nature of the active species and the resultant biological lesions can vary with the activating enzyme. The relative activities of these reductases vary in different cell lines and can be modulated by pH and oxygenation. The effects of a quinone bioreductive alkylating agent therefore depend upon both the cell line and the microenvironment. DNA damage appears to be critical to the cytotoxic effects of these compounds. Both monoadducts and bis-adducts (forming interstrand and intrastrand cross-links) have been identified in DNA from drug-treated cells. The pattern of adduct formation varies with the compound and the environment. Alkaline elution studies suggest a correlation between DNA cross-linking and cytotoxicity, both in air and in hypoxia. The rate of production of oxygen radicals and the importance of radical reactions in producing cytotoxic damage vary for different quinones and for different environments. While the potency of the bioreductive quinones varies with their redox potential, the direction and magnitude of the oxic/hypoxic differential cannot yet be predicted from the structures.

Alkylating Agents

Studies on the mechanism of the cytotoxic action of the mitomycin antibiotics in hypoxic and oxygenated EMT6 cells.

The mitomycin antibiotics, because of their preferential toxicities for hypoxic cells, have significant potential as adjuncts to ionizing radiation in the treatment of solid tumors. To gain information on the mechanism by which these agents exert their cytotoxicities to hypoxic and aerobic cells, the effects of MC, POR and several of their analogs were studied in EMT6 mammary carcinoma cells. The rate of uptake of POR by these cells was directly correlated with the cytotoxicity produced by this agent under both hypoxia and aeration. At equivalent concentrations, uptake of POR into hypoxic cells was more rapid than into aerobic cells. Hypoxic cells also accumulated the antibiotic in concentrations well in excess of that present in the extracellular medium, presumably as a result of reductive activation and covalent binding of POR to cellular structures. Such activation and binding occur to a much lesser degree in aerated cells, resulting in the rapid efflux of POR from these cells when the antibiotic is removed from the extracellular environment. To gain information on the reaction of POR with DNA, mono- and bis-adducts formed in EMT6 cells exposed to this agent were measured. Three major adducts were formed. Two were mono-adducts consisting of deoxyguanosine linked at its N2-position to the C-1 of POR and of 10-decarbamoyl POR. The third was a bis-adduct in which POR was cross-linked to two deoxyguanosines at their N2-positions. More adducts were formed in hypoxia than in air, and more bis-adducts were present in hypoxic cells. Simultaneous exposure of cells to both POR and DIC reduced the total adduct level and a new unknown adduct was formed, primarily under hypoxia. Several mitomycins were evaluated for their capacity to kill EMT6 cells and to produce DNA cross-links in both hypoxia and aeration. The number of cross-links required to produce a given amount of cell kill was similar, regardless of the mitomycin employed or the degree of oxygenation. The findings support the concept that DNA is a critical target in the action of the mitomycins and that cross-linking of the DNA creates an important lesion for cytodestruction.

Animals

Isolation and structure of an intrastrand cross-link adduct of mitomycin C and DNA.

A new covalent mitomycin C-DNA adduct (4) was isolated from DNA exposed to reductively activated mitomycin C (MC) in vitro. The MC-treated DNA was hydrolyzed enzymatically under certain conditions, and the new adduct was isolated from the hydrolysate by HPLC. Its structure was determined by ultraviolet and circular dichroism spectroscopy and chemical and enzymatic transformations conducted on microscale. In the structure, a single 2" beta, 7"-diaminomitosene residue is linked bifunctionally to two guanines in the dinucleoside phosphate d(GpG). The guanines are linked at their N2 atoms to the C1" and C10" positions of the mitosene, respectively. A key to the structure was a finding that removal of the mitosene from the adduct by hot piperidine yielded d(GpG); another was that the adduct was slowly converted to the known interstrand cross-link adduct 3 by snake venom diesterase and alkaline phosphatase. Adduct 4 represents an intrastrand cross-link in DNA formed by MC. Of the two possible strand-polarity isomers of 4, 4a in which the mitosene 1"-position is linked to the 3'-guanine of d(GpG) is designated as the proper structure, on the basis of the mechanism of the cross-linking reaction. The same adduct 4 was isolated from poly(dG).poly(dC), synthetic oligonucleotides containing the GpG sequence, and Micrococcus luteus and calf thymus DNAs. The relative yields of interstrand and intrastrand cross-links (3 and 4) were determined under first-order kinetic conditions; an average 3.6-fold preference for the formation of 3 over that of 4 was observed. An explanation for this preference is proposed.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Alkylation