Lipophilic analogues of sparsomycin as strong inhibitors of protein synthesis and tumor growth: a structure-activity relationship study.

Fourteen derivatives of sparsomycin (1) were synthesized. Six of them were prepared following a novel synthetic route starting from the L-amino acid alanine. Some physicochemical properties, viz. lipophilicity and water solubility, of selected derivatives were measured. The biological activity was tested in vitro in cell-free protein synthesis inhibition assays, in bacterial and tumor cell growth inhibition assays, and in the L1210 leukemia in vivo model in mice. Also for selected drugs the acute toxicity in mice was determined. Ribosomes from both an eukaryotic and a prokaryotic organism were used in the protein synthesis inhibition systems. A linear correlation between the lipophilicity parameters measured was observed. Water solubility and drug toxicity in mice were found to be linearly correlated with lipophilicity. All the derivatives studied are more lipophilic than 1. The deshydroxysparsomycin analogues (30-33) showed an interesting phenomenon: increase in hydrophobicity was accompanied by a considerable increase in water solubility. We found that an increase in hydrophobicity of the drug as a result of replacing the SMe group of 1 with larger alkylthio groups causes an increase in the biological activity of the drug. However, not only the hydrophobicity but also shape and size of the substituent are important; in the homologous series 1-9-10-11-12, 21-22-23-24, and 30-31-32-33, highest protein synthesis inhibitory and in vitro cytostatic activity is found with compounds 11, 23, and 32, respectively, and in comparison with the highly active n-butyl compound 10, the isomeric tert-butyl compound 13 is rather inactive. Polar substituents replacing the SMe group, i.e. Cl in 17 and 35, also render the molecule inactive. Substituting the bivalent sulfur atom for a methylene group decreases the drug's activity. This effect can be compensated for by increasing the length of the alkylsulfinyl side chain. The agreement between the results derived from cell-free and "in vivo" tests is good. The assays using ribosomes of bacterial and eukaryotic organisms give similar results although the latter seem to be more sensitive to changes in hydrophobicity of the drug. Our results confirm the presence of a hydrophobic region at the peptidyl transferase center of the ribosome; the interaction of sparsomycin with this region is more pronounced in the eukaryotic particles. The sparsomycin analogues 11, 23, and 30 show the highest antitumor activity against L1210 leukemia in mice, their median T/C values are 386, 330, and 216%, respectively.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

DNA microstructural requirements for neocarzinostatin chromophore-induced direct strand cleavage.

The microstructural requirements for optimal interaction of neocarzinostatin chromophore (NCS-C) with DNA have been investigated using a series of hexadeoxyribonucleotides with modified bases such as O6-methyl G (MeG), I, 5-methyl C (MeC), U, or 5-Bromo U (BrU) at specific sites in its preferred trinucleotide 5'GNaNb3':5'Na,Nb,C3' (Na = A, C, or T). Results show that MeG:C and G:MeC in place of G:C improve direct strand cleavage at the target Nb (Nb = T greater than A much greater than C greater than G), whereas MeC:G and C:MeG in place of Na:Nb, hinder cleavage. The optimal base target at Nb appears to be determined by its ability to form T:A type base pairing instead of C:G type. The observed differences in DNA strand cleavage patterns can be rationalized by induced changes in target site structure and are compatible with a model for NCS-C:DNA interaction in which the naphthoate moiety intercalates between 5'GNa3', and the activated tetrahydro-s-indacene, lying in the minor groove, abstracts a hydrogen atom from C-5' of Nb.

Theoretical study of the protonation and tautomerization of adenosine, formycin, and their 2-NH2 and 2-F derivatives: functional implications in the mechanism of reaction of adenosine deaminase.

A quantum chemical study of adenosine, formycin, and their 2-NH2 and 2-F derivatives is performed. The tautomerism of neutral and protonated species as well as the protonation of adenosine, formycin, and their derivatives are theoretically studied using semiempirical MNDO and AM1, as well as ab initio STO-3G methods. Calculations have been performed on a reduced model, in which the ribose moiety has been substituted by a hydroxy-methyl group. Results indicate that adenosine is mainly protonated at the N1 atom, whereas formycin can be protonated on N1 or N3, depending on the tautomeric form (N8-H or N7-H). The quantum chemical study of the N1-protonated molecules shows that a second protonation of adenosine is mainly on the N3 atom, whereas formycin can be protonated on N8 or N3, depending on the tautomeric form. On the other hand, results indicate that the protonation of formycin and its derivatives at the N1 atom leads to a change in their tautomeric preference from N7-H to N8-H. The importance of both tautomerism and protonation reactions in the mechanism of action of adenosine deaminase is studied by means of a quantitative structure activity relationships strategy. Significant correlations were found between several electronic parameters and the logarithm of the maximum rate of deamination (log Vm) of the studied compounds. For formycin and its derivatives, it was necessary to consider their N8-H tautomeric forms. The electronic parameters giving good correlations were as follows: energy of the minimum of the ab initio molecular electrostatic potential on N1, net charge over purine (pyrazolo-pyrimidine) and pyrimidine rings, and the N1 protonation energy. It must be noted that all these parameters are informative in relation to a proton attack. Adenosine and purine ribosides have been studied largely because of their high biological relevance. They are constituents of nucleic acids, intermediates in secondary metabolism, neuromodulators, and neurohormones. Their analogues have been extensively used because of their wide range of pharmacological effects (1). Formycin A (Fig. 1) is one of the most studied analogues of adenosine. It is a natural product extracted from Nocardia interforma (2) with proven antiviral (3-5), antibiotic (2), immunodepressant (6), antitumor (6), and antimetabolic (5) activities.

Sequence-specific, strand-selective, and directional binding of neocarzinostatin chromophore to oligodeoxyribonucleotides.

The sequence-specific interaction of neocarzinostatin chromophore (NCS-C) has been evaluated with a series of synthetic oligodeoxyribonucleotides of defined sequences containing the most preferred nucleotide cleavage site, T or A, or both. NCS-C preferentially cleaves T or A residues in the sequence GN1N2, where N2 is T or A. Greater cleavage occurs on the strand enriched with G residues, provided that they are adjacent to other G residues, but not at N1. These results are compatible with a model for drug binding in which the naphthoate moiety of NCS-C preferentially intercalates at GN1. This is accompanied by electrostatic binding interaction provided by the positively charged amino sugar moiety so as to place the reactive bicyclo[7.3.0]dodecadienediyne epoxide moiety in an appropriate orientation in the minor groove enabling, upon thiol activation, attack at C-5' of T or A. At certain sequences, such as GCT.AGC, a similar binding mode is also able to generate a basic lesions at the C residue on the opposite strand, forming a bistranded lesion. Although the reactions with glutathione generally show the same strand selectivity and sequence specificity as those with dithiothreitol, the former is usually more efficient than the latter.

An uptake of fluorescein isothiocyanate labeled neocarzinostatin into the cancer and normal cells.

An uptake of fluorescein isothiocyanate labeled neocarzinostatin into normal and cancerous epithelial cells from bladder was investigated. Results showed that neocarzinostatin traversed the cell membrane into cytosol and nuclei, and it appeared to have a preferential cytotoxicity for the cancer cell.

Carbon-13 nuclear magnetic resonance assignments of pactamycin and related compounds.

All resonances observed in the 13C NMR spectrum of the antitumor antibiotic pactamycin and its degradation product pactamyçate have been assigned, employing off-resonance and specific proton decoupling as well as comparison with the 13C NMR spectra of the model compounds m-aminoacetophenone and ethyl 6-methylsalicylate.

Synthesis of tenuazonic acid analogues.

The synthesis of two 1.5-diaryltetramic acids, aryl analogues of tenuazonic acid, is described. The reactivity of position 4 of these tetramic acids towards primary and secondary amines, and o-methylation led to the synthesis of 4-substituted-delta3-pyrroline-2-one. Further, reactivity of position 3 has been indicated by the formation of 3-arylidenepyrrolidine-2.4-diones and by diazo-coupling. The structures assigned to the new compounds are substantiated by IR and NMR data.

[Role of the functional groups of the sibiromycin molecule in DNA binding]. / Rol' funktsional'nykh grupp molekuly sibiromitsina v sviazyvanii s DNK.

Biological activity of 2 derivatives of sibiromycin, an antibiotic close by its chemical structure to antramycin and their capacity for formation of complexes with DNA was studied. Anhydrosibiromycin like sibiromycin formed a complex with DNA. The antibiotic increased the DNA melting point but to a less extent than sibiromycin. Anhydrosibiromycin had a low activity in the system of DNA-dependent RNA-polymerase. The low biological activity of anhydrosibiromycin must be due to instability of the antibiotic complex with DNA. Methyl ether of sibiromycin by the phenol hydroxyl, the other derivative of sibiromycin had no biological activity and did not interact with DNA. On the basis of experimental data it was suggested that definite functional groups of the sibiromycin participated in DNA binding.

Mechanism of action of acetyl kidamycin. II. Inhibition of RNA synthesis in HeLa cells.

The effects of acetyl kidamycin on RNA synthesis in HeLa cells were investigated. Acetyl kidamycin inhibited the synthesis of 45S pre-rRNA, heterogeneous nuclear RNA (HnRNA) and small molecular weight RNAs, though not to the same degree. The processing of 45S pre-rRNA into 18S and 28S rRNA and that of HnRNA into mRNA were not affected.

[Preparation of dihydrocarminomycin and a comparison of its antitumor activity with the activity of carminomycin]. / Poluchenie digidrokarminomitsina i sravnenie ego protivoopukholevoi aktivnosti s aktivnost'iu karminomitsina

A dihydro derivative of karminomycin was prepared using chemical reduction with potassium boron hydride. When dihydrokarminomycin was administered intravenously to healthy albino mice in a single dose it practically showed the same toxicity as karminomycin. However, unlike the latter dihydrokarminomycin induced the death of the animals at later periods of time. Studies on mice with transplantable tumours showed high antitumor activity of dihydrokarminomycin against lymphosarcoma L10-1, sarcoma 180, Garding-Passy melanoma, lymphoid leukosis L-1210 and lymphocytal leukosis P-388. In treatment of the mice with leukosis L-1210 and Garding-Passy melanoma dihydrokapminomycin was much inferior by its efficiency than karminomycin.

Mechanism of action of acetyl kidamycin. I. Interaction with DNA.

Acetyl kidamycin, an antitumor antibiotic, was strongly bound to DNA in vitro, consequently, the melting temperature of DNA was significantly increased, and its buoyant density was decreased. From these results, it was suggested that acetyl kidamycin stabilized residual links between complementary strands by binding to DNA. An additional action was observed in that acetyl kidamycin caused single-strand scission of DNA in an alkaline sucrose density gradient solution.

Synthesis of sparsomycin analogs as potential antitumor agents.

No information is available on the structural requirements for the antitumor activity of sparsomycin, an antibiotic obtained from the fermentation broth of Streptomyces sparsogenes. Its high in vivo and in vitro activity, novel structure, and uncommon mode of action have, therefore, suggested the synthesis of analogs. This report describes the preparation and screening of a series of N-substituted 3-aryl acrylamides which are closely related to sparsomycin. Three compounds exhibited some tumor inhibition but insufficient to warrant further testing.