An unusual Michael addition of 3,3-dimethoxypropanenitrile to 2-aryl acrylates: a convenient route to 4-unsubstituted 5,6-dihydropyrido[2,3-d]pyrimidines.

An unusual Michael addition between 2-aryl-substituted acrylates and 3,3-dimethoxypropanenitrile which leads, depending on the reaction temperature (60 or -78 degrees C, respectively), to a 4-methoxymethylene-substituted 4-cyanobutyric ester or to a 4-dimethoxymethyl 4-cyanobutyric ester is described. These compounds can be subsequently converted to 4-unsubstituted pyrido[2,3-d]pyrimidines upon treatment with a guanidine system under microwave irradiation.

S-phase inhibition of cell cycle progression by a novel class of pyridopyrimidine tyrosine kinase inhibitors.

Increased activity of the src family of oncogenic tyrosine kinases is seen in many human tumors and pharmacologic inhibitors of these kinases are investigated as potential anti-tumor agents. A family of pyrido [2, 3-d] pyrimidine compounds (PD) has been characterized as selective inhibitors of Src kinases. We studied the effects of this class of compounds on cancer cell lines and found that they were highly specific inhibitors of cell cycle progression. These compounds inhibit cells either in the mitotic phase or in mid S-phase; these two activities are mutually exclusive: no compound exerts both activities. We undertook experiments to determine the mechanistic basis for these differences and found additional biochemical activities associated with the S-phase inhibitors. Treatment of cells with the S-phase blocker PD179483 causes abnormal and persistent hyperactivation of Cdk2 and Cdc2 due to Tyr-15 dephosphorylation. These effects were associated with hyperphosphorylation of the upstream regulatory kinase Myt1 and Wee1. They were not observed with the anti-mitotic compounds. Furthermore, the S-phase inhibitors PD179483 and PD166326, but not the anti-mitotic compounds, inhibit Wee1 in vitro at concentrations that cause S-phase block in vivo. These data identify a novel subset of pyridopyrimidine compounds which are inhibitors of src and Wee1 kinases and which inhibit tumor cell growth through cell cycle arrest in mid S-phase.

Activation of the Xenopus cyclin degradation machinery by full-length cyclin A.

The entry into mitosis is dependent on the activation of mitotic forms of cdc2 kinase. In many cell types, cyclin A-associated kinase activity peaks just prior to that of cyclin B, although the precise role of cyclin A-associated kinase in the entry into mitosis is still unclear. Previous work has suggested that while cyclin B is capable of triggering cyclin destruction in Xenopus cell-free systems, cyclin A-associated kinase is not able to support this function. Here we have expressed a full-length human cyclin A in Escherichia coli and purified the protein to homogeneity by virtue of an N-terminal histidine tag. We have found that when added to Xenopus cell-free extracts free of cyclin B and incapable of protein synthesis, the temporal pattern of cyclin A-associated cdc2 kinase activity showed distinct differences that were dependent on the concentration of cyclin A added. When cyclin A was added to a concentration that generated levels of cdc2 kinase activity capable of inducing nuclear envelope breakdown, the histone H1 kinase activity profile was bi-phasic, consisting of an activation phase followed by an inactivation phase. Inactivation was found to be due to cyclin destruction, which was prevented by mos protein. Cyclin destruction was followed by nuclear reassembly and an additional round of DNA replication, indicating that there is no protein synthesis requirement for DNA replication in this embryonic system. It has been suggested that the evolutionary recruitment of cyclin A into an S phase function may have necessitated the loss of an original mitotic ability to activate the cyclin destruction pathway. The results presented here indicate that cyclin A has not lost the ability to activate its own destruction and that cyclin A-mediated activation of the cyclin destruction pathway permitted destruction of cyclin B1 as well as cyclin A, indicating that there are not distinct cyclin A and cyclin B destruction pathways. Thus the ordered progression of the cell cycle requires the careful titration of cyclin. A concentration in order to avoid activation of the cyclin destruction pathway before sufficient active cyclin B/cdc2 kinase has accumulated.

Apoptosis in 7-hydroxystaurosporine-treated T lymphoblasts correlates with activation of cyclin-dependent kinases 1 and 2.

7-Hydroxystaurosporine (UCN-01) is a potent inhibitor of protein kinase C (PKC) isozymes alpha, beta, and gamma [Seynaeve et al., Mol. Pharmacol, 45: 1207-1214, 1994] that also has antitumor effects in vivo. To determine whether inhibition of PKC can be related to inhibition of cell growth with induction of apoptosis, we compared the effects of UCN-01 to those of the highly selective bisindolylmaleimide PKC antagonist GF 109203X in leukemic T-cell lines. Both compounds potently inhibited PKC activity when added to T-cell membrane preparations and reversed phorbol ester-induced c-fos gene expression in intact cells. However, whereas UCN-01 potently inhibited growth of Jurkat, Molt-3, Molt-4, and Hut-78 cells (IC50 = 20-65 nM, irreversible after 24 h of exposure), GF 109203X had IC50s for cell growth of 3.6-5.0 muM. Less than 3 h after addition, UCN-01 but not GF 109203X-treated cells displayed loss of cells with G2-M DNA content, appearance of a hypodiploid DNA fraction, and evidence of internucleosomal DNA fragmentation. Six h after treatment, cells appeared to accumulate with S-phase DNA content. These effects correlated with selective UCN-01 but not GF 109203X-induced decrease in total and tyrosine phosphorylation of cyclin-dependent kinases (cdks) 1 and 2, and with increases in the histone H1 kinase activities of cdk1 and cdk2. UCN-01 was relatively less potent in inhibition of properly activated cdk1 and cdk2 when added in vitro to H1 kinase assays (IC50 = 1000 and 600 nM, respectively). We conclude that inhibition of PKC alone is not sufficient to account for the actions of UCN-01 and are led to the hypothesis that inappropriate cdk activation either correlates with or actually mediates cell growth inhibition with apoptosis in T lymphoblasts exposed to UCN-01.