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N Prajda

Publications and source records attributed to N Prajda.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1992

Inhibition by tiazofurin of inosine 5'-phosphate dehydrogenase (IMP DH) activity in extracts of ovarian carcinomas.

Cancer cells have an increased ability to synthesize GTP (guanosine triphosphate) because of increased activity of IMP DH (inosine 5'-phosphate dehydrogenase, EC 1.1.1.205). Because IMP DH activity is rate limiting for de novo biosynthesis of GTP, this enzyme was suggested as a sensitive target for chemotherapy. Tiazofurin (2-beta-D-ribofuranosylthiazole-4-carboxamide) is converted in the cells into the active metabolite, TAD, (thiazole-4-carboxamide adenine dinucleotide) which potently inhibits IMP DH activity. By adding TAD to tissue extracts one can determine the extent of inhibition of IMP DH. We applied the IMP DH assay method to extracts of normal ovaries (N = 11) and epithelial ovarian carcinomas (N = 10). The IMP DH activity (mean +/- SE) in ovarian carcinoma was 21.1 +/- 5.8 which was markedly higher than that observed in normal ovaries (2.9 +/- 0.7 nmol/hr/mg protein) (P < 0.05%). The inhibition by TAD of IMP DH activity in ovarian carcinomas (N = 4) was 81%. The results indicate that IMP DH activity is elevated sevenfold in ovarian carcinomas as compared to normal ovary and can be inhibited by exposure to tiazofurin (TAD). Similar high IMP DH activity and inhibition of the activity by TAD was observed in patients with chronic granulocytic leukemia in blast crisis among whom 70 to 80% remissions were reported. Since there is increased IMP DH activity in human ovarian carcinomas and in OVCAR-5 cells and tiazofurin and TAD inhibit IMP DH activity of these cells and the proliferation of human ovarian carcinoma xenografts in the mouse, tiazofurin may merit serious consideration for a Phase II trial for patients with recurrent/refractory epithelial ovarian carcinoma.

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMed1991

AZT: a biochemical response modifier of methotrexate and 5-fluorouracil cytotoxicity in human ovarian and pancreatic carcinoma cells.

In ovarian and pancreatic carcinoma cell lines, the activity of the salvage enzyme, thymidine kinase (EC 2.7.1.21), was 2- to 13-fold higher than that of the key enzyme of thymidylate de novo biosynthesis, thymidylate synthase (dTMP synthase, EC 2.1.1.45). AZT (3'-azido-3'-deoxythymidine, zidovudine) competitively inhibited thymidine kinase activity in extracts of human ovarian and pancreatic carcinoma cells, with Dixon plots yielding Ki = 1.1 microM in both cell lines. AZT (20 microM) yielded synergistic cytotoxicity with methotrexate (0.4 microM) in human pancreatic carcinoma cells in clonogenic assay and also with methotrexate (0.02 microM) in human ovarian carcinoma cells, as measured by cell counts. Thymidine (10 microM) and hypoxanthine (100 microM) reversed these inhibitions. AZT (20 or 40 microM) also provided synergistic cytotoxicity with 5-fluorouracil (0.5 and 1.0 microM) in human pancreatic carcinoma cells in clonogenic assay. These studies suggest a new role for AZT, which, as an inhibitor of thymidine salvage, should be useful as a biochemical response modifier to provide a synergistic clinical anticancer impact on de novo biosynthesis of thymidylates in conjunction with methotrexate or 5-fluorouracil.

Animals↗
PubMed1989

Clinical and molecular impact of inhibition of IMP dehydrogenase activity by tiazofurin.

The impact of tiazofurin on inhibition of IMP dehydrogenase was discussed at the clinical and molecular levels. 1. Evidence was provided for the role of IMP dehydrogenase and guanylates in the expression of the neoplastic program in cancer cells with particular relevance to human leukemic cells. 2. The argument for expecting an impact of tiazofurin in human myelocytic cells was provided. 3. Similarity of the kinetics of human leukemic cell IMP dehydrogenase to the rat hepatoma enzyme was documented. 4. New evidence was provided for the role of salvage in chemotherapy and the function of hypoxanthine in inhibiting guanine salvage. 5. The action of tiazofurin and retinoic acid was reported in HL-60 leukemic cells. 6. The effect of tiazofurin and retinoic acid on proliferation and cytotoxicity was outlined for hepatoma 3924A cells. 7. The effect of guanine on induced differentiation by tiazofurin and retinoic acid was examined. 8. Biochemical basis was provided for the lack of development of resistance in patients treated with tiazofurin. 9. Presumptive evidence was provided that tiazofurin treatment induced differentiation of leukemic cells in the patients. 10. The molecular biology of tiazofurin-induced differentiation in K-562 cells was reviewed with the possible relevance to clinical treatment that tiazofurin might also act through down-regulation of ras oncogene.

Animals↗
PubMed1988

Enzymic programs of rat bone marrow and the impact of acivicin and tiazofurin.

The in vivo actions of two antimetabolites, acivicin (NSC-163501) and tiazofurin (NSC-286193), were examined on the enzymic programs of rat bone marrow. From the bone marrow of the femurs, 100,000 g supernatant fractions were prepared; enzymic activities were measured by isotopic assays, and cellularity was determined. In the normal bone marrow, the specific activities of pyrimidine de novo synthetic enzymes, CDP reductase, dTMP synthase, CTP synthase, carbamoyl-phosphate synthase II (synthase II), orotidine 5'-phosphate decarboxylase and aspartate carbamoyltransferase, were 1, 2.7, 5, 10, 63 and 601 nmol/hr/mg protein, respectively, whereas those of the salvage enzymes, deoxycytidine, thymidine, cytidine and uridine kinases were 3, 43, 149, and 367 nmol/hr/mg protein, respectively. In purine biosynthesis, the activities of the de novo synthetic enzymes, IMP dehydrogenase, formylglycinamidine ribonucleotide (FGAM) synthase, GMP synthase, amidophosphoribosyl-transferase (AT) and adenylosuccinate synthase were 16, 8, 107, 78 and 124 nmol/hr/mg protein, respectively, and those of the salvage enzymes, adenine, hypoxanthine and guanine phosphoribosyl-transferases, were 340, 407, and 1018 nmol/hr/mg protein, respectively. The sequence of events was elucidated after a single i.p. injection of acivicin (5 mg/kg) or tiazofurin (200 mg/kg). Within 2 hr after acivicin injection, CTP, GMP and FGAM synthases lost 85-90%, while AT and synthase II lost 50 and 80%, respectively, of their activities. The activities rose to near normal range by 72-96 hr. The bone marrow cellularity decreased, reaching a nadir at 24 and 48 hr, and returning to normal range by 72 and 92 hr; thymidine kinase activity followed a similar pattern. Tiazofurin injection depressed IMP dehydrogenase activity to 20% by 2 hr with a rebound to normal range by 48 and 72 hr. The cellularity decreased more slowly, reaching its lowest point at 24 hr and returning to normal range at 72 hr. For acivicin the marked depletion of the activities of the glutamine-utilizing enzymes and for tiazofurin that of IMP dehydrogenase might account, in part at least, for the bone marrow toxicity of these antimetabolites. Because of the presence in the bone marrow of high activities of purine and pyrimidine salvage enzymes, it should be possible to design methods utilizing nucleosides and nucleobases to protect the bone marrow from the action of antimetabolites.

Animals↗
PubMed1988

Comparison of intestinal toxic effects of platinum complexes: cisplatin (CDDP), carboplatin (CBDCA), and iproplatin (CHIP).

The biochemical background of the intestinal side effects of cis-diammine-1,1-cyclobutane dicarboxylate platinum (II) (CBDCA) and cis-diisopropylamine-trans-dihydroxy-dichloro platinum (IV) (CHIP) was compared with those of cis-diamminedichloroplatinum (II) (CDDP). Biochemical investigations were carried out on mucosal cells isolated by a combined chemical-mechanical method from the total length of the small intestine. After treatment with single, equitoxic doses of Pt analogues, the activities of thymidine kinase (TK) EC 2.7.1.21, sucrase (SUC) EC 3.2.1.26, maltase (MAL) EC 3.2.1.20, and protein content showed dose-dependent decreases, whereas the activity of alkaline phosphatase (AP) EC 3.2.1.20 increased slightly. The nadir of enzyme activity changes occurred 24-48 h after treatment. For the regeneration of the mucosa more than 96 h was necessary. Of the platinum analogues studied, CHIP proved to be the most toxic to the small intestine. While the highest doses of CDDP and CBDCA (0.66 x LD50) caused significant but less than 50% decreases in TK, SUC, MAL, and protein content (PROT), the CHIP doses needed for 50% reduction were between 0.44-0.66 x LD50.

Alkaline Phosphatase↗
PubMed1988

Insulin regulatory effects on purine- and pyrimidine metabolism in alloxan diabetic rat liver.

Aim of this study was to elucidate insulin regulatory effects on purine and pyrimidine metabolism. Livers of alloxan diabetic and insulin treated rats were freeze clamped and nucleotide pools measured using HPLC techniques. Activities of key enzymes of de novo and salvage pathways were analyzed with radioassays. In diabetic liver nucleotide triphosphate pools were reduced between 46 and 75% of controls, nucleotide monophosphate concentrations increased. Activities of de novo biosynthetic enzymes amidophosphoribosyltransferase, FGAM synthase, IMP dehydrogenase, GMP synthase, carbamoylphosphate synthase II were curtailed by 16-61%, those of salvage enzymes hypoxanthine-guanine-phosphoribosyltransferase, adenine-phosphoribosyltransferase, thymidine kinase also decreased to 31-58%. Insulin treatment for 2 and 7 days normalized nucleotide pools, activities of key enzymes of de novo and salvage pathways were increased between 2.4 and 4.1 fold compared to diabetic untreated. Activation of nucleic acid metabolism by insulin can be explained by the requirement for high energy phosphates of certain anabolic key enzymes in carbohydrate and lipid metabolism. Impaired synthesis in insulin deficiency of end products of guanylate and pyrimidine pathway required as substrates for a variety of enzymes synthesising membrane structures throw new light on the pathogenesis of some late complications of diabetic disease.

Animals↗
PubMed1985

Biochemical changes of intestinal epithelial cells induced by cytostatic agents in rats.

In the intestinal epithelium the rapidly proliferating crypt cells, the precursors of the mature enterocytes are extremely sensitive to the effects of cytostatic agents. The symptoms of intestinal impairment: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, ulceration, are well known both in clinical practice and in experimental chemotherapy. To obtain information about the biochemical nature of these side effects, a study was performed by investigating the influence of clinically used alkylating hexitol derivatives, dianhydrogalactitol and diacetyl-dianhydrogalactitol, on rat intestinal mucosa cells. The biochemical parameters were investigated in isolated intestinal mucosa cells. Cell proliferation was characterized by measuring the activity of thymidine kinase, while digestion was evaluated by assaying the alkaline phosphatase, sucrase and maltase activities localized in the brush border membrane of the villus cells. The dose response studies of the different enzyme activities indicated that inhibition in all cases was dose dependent. The nadir of the intestinal damage and the time of regeneration were influenced both by the dose and the dosage schedule of the drugs.

Animals↗
PubMed1985

Enzyme targets of antiglutamine agents in cancer chemotherapy.

The modes of action of azaserine and acivicin were compared. The results were evaluated by assessing the impact of these drugs on primary targets, the activities of key enzymes, and on secondary and tertiary targets, the concentrations of pools of ribonucleotides and deoxyribonucleotides. It was observed that both drugs act as competitive inhibitors for glutamine-utilizing enzymes involved in the biosynthesis of purines and pyrimidines, but in addition acivicin exerts a direct inactivating effect (probably by alkylation) on the enzymes. The different tissues examined displayed varying sensitivity to the drugs which may be attributed in part at least to the tissue glutamine content. Acivicin markedly depleted the CTP pools, but ATP and UTP were unaffected. It also decreased the concentration of all 4 deoxynucleoside triphosphates. These biochemical targets serve as indicators of acivicin action in cancer cells and should also be helpful in the design of combination chemotherapy. On the basis of the biochemical action of acivicin, actinomycin and dipyridamole were selected for testing in combination chemotherapy. Both drugs acted synergistically with acivicin.

Animals↗
PubMed1984

Enzymic capacities of purine de Novo and salvage pathways for nucleotide synthesis in normal and neoplastic tissues.

The enzymic capacities of the de novo and the salvage pathways for purine nucleotide synthesis were compared in rat in normal, differentiating, and regenerating liver, and in three hepatomas of widely different growth rates. The activities of the key de novo and salvage enzymes were also determined in mouse lung and Lewis lung carcinoma, in human kidney and liver, and in renal cell carcinoma and hepatocellular carcinomas. A precise and reproducible assay was worked out for measuring the activities of adenine phosphoribosyltransferase (EC 2.4.2.7) and hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (HGPRT; EC 2.4.2.8) in crude liver and hepatoma systems. Kinetic studies on the salvage enzymes were carried out in the crude 100,000 X g supernatant fluid from normal liver and rapidly growing hepatoma 3924A. In both tissue extracts, Michaelis-Menten kinetics was observed for adenine phosphoribosyltransferase and HGPRT. The reciprocal plots for 5-phosphoribosyl-1-pyrophosphate (PRPP) of liver and hepatoma enzymes gave apparent KmS of 2 microM for adenine phosphoribosyltransferase and 4 microM for HGPRT, showing two orders of magnitude higher affinities for PRPP than that of the rate-limiting enzyme of de novo purine synthesis, amidophosphoribosyltransferase (EC 2.4.2.14) (Km = 400 to 900 microM). The apparent Km values for adenine of liver and hepatoma adenine phosphoribosyltransferase were 0.6 to 0.9 microM, respectively. For both liver and hepatoma HGPRT, the reciprocal plots for hypoxanthine and guanine yielded the same Km of 3 microM. The specific activities of purine phosphoribosyltransferases were markedly higher than that of amidophosphoribosyltransferase in rat thymus, spleen, testis, bone marrow, colon, liver, kidney cortex, lung, heart, brain, and skeletal muscle, but were lower in the small intestine. In hepatomas and regenerating and differentiating liver, the activities of the salvage enzymes were 2.1- to 32-fold higher than that of amidophosphoribosyltransferase. The purine phosphoribosyltransferase activities were also higher than that of amidophosphoribosyltransferase in Lewis lung carcinoma (8.2- to 32-fold), human renal cell carcinoma (3.5- to 22-fold), and hepatocellular carcinoma (3.4- to 30-fold). The high activities and the high affinity to PRPP of the purine phosphoribosyltransferases might explain the lack of linkage of the behavior of these enzymic activities with proliferation in normal, regenerating, differentiating, or neoplastic tissues. In contrast, the specific activity of the amidophosphoribosyltransferase, which is lower than that of the salvage enzymes, is linked with transformation as it is increased in all examined tumors.4

Adenine Phosphoribosyltransferase↗
PubMed1983

Effect of a single high dose and repeated small doses of dianhydrogalactitol (DAG; NSC-132313) on rat intestinal mucosa.

The influence of the treatment schedule of dianhydrogalactitol on its effect on the activity of mucosal enzymes in rat intestine was studied. The effect of a single high dose (10 mg/kg) was compared with that of repeated small doses (4 x 2.5 mg/kg) given at daily intervals. At 48 h after a single high dose the activities of thymidine kinase, which is a marker of dividing crypt cells, and of alkaline phosphatase, sucrase, maltase, xanthine oxidase, which are markers of mature enterocytes, were strongly depressed. Even 96 h after the treatment low enzyme activities could be observed. Repeated small doses caused milder enzyme inhibition and almost total recovery had occurred by 96 h after administration of the last dose. The results indicate that fractionation of drug administration can reduce the toxic side-effects on the intestinal mucosa and might be partly responsible for the higher therapeutic index of such schedules in experimental tumor models.

Alkaline Phosphatase↗
PubMed1982

Multi-enzyme-targeted chemotherapy by acivicin and actinomycin.

On the basis of our observation of the increased specific activities of glutamine-utilizing enzymes in purine and pyrimidine metabolism in hepatoma 3924A, and because the concentration of glutamine is ten times lower in the hepatomas than in the liver, the biochemical pharmacology of the anti-glutamine agent, acivicin, was examined. (1) Acivicin competitively inhibited the activities of amidophosphoribosyl-transferase, CTP synthetase and carbamoyl-phosphate synthetase II from extracts of liver and hepatoma 3924A. (2) In addition to the competitive inhibition exerted by acivicin, evidence was obtained that this drug also irreversibly inactivated in vitro the glutamine-utilizing enzymes. It is particularly relevant for the selectivity of acivicin that the activity of aspartate carbamoyltransferase, an enzyme present in the same complex as carbamoyl-phosphate synthetase II, was not affected by the anti-glutamine agent. (3) Acivicin in vivo brought down the activities of glutamine-utilizing enzymes in a period of 10 min to 1 hr after injection. CTP synthetase activity declined to less than 10% of that observed in the uninjected rats. The decreases were not reversible by various in vitro methods, but in vivo the activities returned to normal range in 72 hr. (4) The activity of aspartate carbamoyltransferase, which exists as a multi-enzyme complex with synthetase II, was not altered by acivicin injection. Similar results were observed in transplantable sarcoma in the rat. (5) The acivicin-induced decrease in enzymic activities could not be restored by purification of the enzymes. (6) In vitro studies indicated that addition of acivicin to liver or hepatoma extracts or purified enzymes rapidly decreased enzymic activities; the activities could not be restored. These results are consistent with an interpretation that acivicin acts either as a tight-binding inhibitor or as an inactivator through alkylation of the enzymes of glutamine utilization. (7) Acivicin in combination with actinomycin provided a synergistic kill of hepatoma cells in tissue culture and also inhibited the growth of transplantable solid hepatoma 3924A in the rat. (8) The synergistic biological results of combination chemotherapy with acivicin and actinomycin can be accounted for by the action of acivicin in inhibiting GMP and CTP synthetases, resulting in a decrease in GTP and CTP content, and by the actinomycin-caused inhibition of RNA polymerase in selectively blocking the utilization of GTP and CTP.

Animals↗
PubMed1976

Imbalance of purine metabolism in hepatomas of different growth rates as expressed in behavior of xanthine oxidase (EC 1.2.3.2).

The behavior of the rate-limiting enzyme of purine catabolism, xanthine oxidase (EC 1.2.3.2); was examined in normal liver, in 17 hepatomas of different growth rates, and in rapidly growing differentiating and regenerating liver. Xanthine oxidase activity was measured in the supernatant fluid prepared by centrifugation of 5% homogenates at 100,000 X g for 30 min. There was no uricase activity in the supernatant fluid. The affinity of xanthine oxidase to xanthine was similar in normal liver and in slow- and rapidly growing hepatomas (Km=6 to 8 muM), and theoptimum pH was 8.0; at pH 7.4, the activity was 80% of that at the pH optimum. A standard assay was worked out for the liver and hepatoma systems; the enzyme activity was linear during 60-min incubation and proportionate with amounts of protein added over a range of 0.5 to 3.0 mg. Xanthine oxidase specific activity was 9 times higher in small intestine than in liver. Activities in lung, spleen, kidney, heart, testes, and thymus were 67, 59, 21, 19, 8, and 8%, and in skeletal muscle, brain, and bone marrow activities were 5% of that of the liver. In regenerating liver, xanthine oxidase activity was not changed from that of the liver of sham-operated controls up to 96 hr after operation. The activity of the average differentiating liver cell was less than 5% of that of adult liver during the first week after birth. At postnatal ages of 18, 25, 30 and 40 days, the activity rose to 18, 46, 76, and 94%, respectively, of that of the adult liver. In starvation, hepatic xanthine oxidase activity per cell was preferentially depleted as compared to the decline in protein concentration. Upon refeeding, the enzymatic activity was restored more slowly than the protein content. Since xanthine oxidase activity was decreased in all examined hepatomas, including the slowest-growing, well-differentiated neoplasms, the altered activity of this enzyme appears to be.linked with neoplastic transformatiobosyl 1-pyrophosphate amidotransferase (EC 2.4.2.14), was increassed in the hepatomas, the reprogramming of gene expression results in an imbalance that favors the synthetic over the catabolic potential. This enzymatic imbalance should confer selective advantages to the cancer cells.

Animals↗