Thymidine synthesis, inhibitors

The answer is b. (Hardman, p 1203.) Trifluridine inhibits viral activity in HSV types 1 and 2, CMV, vaccinia, and perhaps adenovirus. It acts as a viral DNA synthesis inhibitor by irreversibly blocking thymidylate synthetase. Trifluridine triphosphate is a competitive inhibitor of thymidine triphosphate accumulation into DNA It is used in the treatment of primary keratoconjunctivitis and recurrent epithelial keratitis caused by HSV 1 and 2. 

In a study of six mercury compounds, mercury chloride, mercury nitrate, sodium ethylmercurithi-osalicylate, methyl mercury chloride, mercury acetate and phenylmercury acetate in MDCK cells, LLC-PKl cells and human primary proximal tubular cells (hPTC) and non-renal cell lines (SAOS and Hep G2) it was found that all mercury compounds were toxic to all cell types as evidenced by neutral red uptake, thymidine incorporation and the MTT assay [189]. However, sodium ethylmercurithiosalicylate, methyl mercury chloride and phenylmercury acetate were one order of magnitude more toxic than the other compounds. In addition the GSH synthesis inhibitor L-buthionine sulfoximine (BSO) potentiated the toxicity of all mercury compounds [189]. In a study using primary rabbit proximal tubular cells it was also shown that methyl mercury chloride is more toxic than mercury chloride [190]. Differences in the extent and rate of metal uptake were also evident. Maximum cellular uptake of Hg " occurred within 6-24 hr after exposure and was not concentration-dependent, whereas maximum uptake of CHgHg" occurred within 3 hr of exposure and was concentration- dependent [190]. 

Concanavalin A can be added to the medium to increase the mitotic activity (Davisson and Akeson, 1987), methotrexate, an inhibitor of thymidine synthesis, can be used to promote synchronization of the culture (Lee et al., 1990) and colcemid to increase the number of metaphase chromosomes (Table 11.3B). 

With the aid of cytosine permease, flucytosine reaches the fungal cell where it is converted by cytosine deaminase into 5-fluorouracil [51-21-8]. Cytosine deaminase is not present in the host, which explains the low toxicity of 5-FC. 5-Fluorouracil is then phosphorylated and incorporated into RNA and may also be converted into 5-fluorodeoxyuridine monophosphate, which is a potent and specific inhibitor of thymidylate synthetase. As a result, no more thymidine nucleotides are formed, which in turn leads to a disturbance of the DNA-synthesis. These effects produce an inhibition of the protein synthesis and cell repHcation (1,23,24). 5-Fluorouracil caimot be used as an antimycotic. It is poorly absorbed by the fungus to begin with and is also toxic for mammalian cells. 

Deoxy-3 -fluorothymidine (813), a selective inhibitor of DNA synthesis, was prepared " in moderate yields from 3 -0-mesyl- or 3, 5 -di-O-mesyl-thymidine, through 2,3 -anhydro-1 -(2-deoxy- -D-t/2reopentofur-anosyl)thymine (808), by treatment with hydrogen fluoride (0.1% HF in l,4-dioxane-AlF3, 3.764 hf in DMF-AlFj, or 10% HF in DMF ),... 

The methylation of deoxyuridine monophosphate (dUMP) to thymidine monophosphate (TMP), catalyzed by thymidylate synthase, is essential for the synthesis of DNA. The one-carbon fragment of methy-lene-tetrahydrofolate is reduced to a methyl group with release of dihydrofolate, which is then reduced back to tetrahydrofolate by dihydrofolate reductase. Thymidylate synthase and dihydrofolate reductase are especially active in tissues with a high rate of cell division. Methotrexate, an analog of 10-methyl-tetrahydrofolate, inhibits dihydrofolate reductase and has been exploited as an anticancer drug. The dihydrofolate reductases of some bacteria and parasites differ from the human enzyme inhibitors of these enzymes can be used as antibacterial drugs, eg, trimethoprim, and anti-malarial drugs, eg, pyrimethamine. 

We first applied Tethering to thymidylate synthase (TS). This enzyme converts de-oxyuridine monophosphate (dUMP) to thymidine monophosphate (dTMP), an activity essential for DNA synthesis. The cancer drug 5-fluorouracil irreversibly inhibits TS, and a selective inhibitor of a non-human form of the enzyme could yield a new antibiotic or antifungal drug [23]. 

The pyrimidine antagonists inhibit the biosynthesis of pyrimidine nucleotides or interfere with vital cellular functions, such as the synthesis or function of nucleic acids. The analogues of deoxycytidine and thymidine that are used are inhibitors of DNA synthesis while 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) an analogue of uracil, is an inhibitor of both RNA function and of the synthesis of thymidylate (see Fig. 2). PALA (N-phosphonoacetyl-L-aspartate), an inhibitor of as-... 

Perhaps the best understood example of induction involves induction of the aromatic hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) by compounds such as TCDD and 3-methylcholanthrene. The use of suitable inhibitors of RNA and DNA polymerase activity has shown that inhibitors of RNA synthesis such as actinomycin D and mercapto(pyridethyl)benzimida-zole block aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase induction, whereas hydroxyurea, at levels that completely block the incorporation of thymidine into DNA, has no effect. Thus it appears that the inductive effect is at the level of transcription and that DNA synthesis is not required. 

Aminopterin and amethopterin are 4-amino analogues of folic acid (Fig. 11.5) and as such are potent inhibitors of the enzyme dihydrofolate reductase (EC 1.5.1.3) (Blakley, 1969). This enzyme catalyses the reduction of folic acid and dihydrofolic acid to tetrahy-drofolic acid which is the level of reduction of the active coenzyme involved in many different aspects of single carbon transfer. As is clear from Fig. 11.6, tetrahydrofolate is involved in the metabolism of (a) the amino acids glycine and methionine (b) the carbon atoms at positions 2 and 8 of the purine ring (c) the methyl group of thymidine and (d) indirectly in the synthesis of choline and histidine. 

Dideoxynucleosides show potent anti-retroviral activity against HIV-specific reverse transcriptase80-83. In particular, 2, 3 -dideoxy-3 -C-cyano-2 -substituted thymidine derivatives (33 A and 33 B) with a free 5 -hydroxy function (R1 = H) are potential inhibitors of the HIV-reverse transcriptase-promoted c-DNA synthesis. As these compounds have yet to be prepared by another method, the 3 -ene-nitrile 3284 was subjected to conjugate addition reactions with ammonia, primary amines, secondary amines and carbon nucleophiles. Most of these nucleophilic amine addition reactions give either the trans-isomer 33 A as the sole product (e.g., reaction with pyrrolidine, piperidine, morpholine), or as the major product along with the c/s-isomer (e.g., reaction with methylamine, benzylamine), except for the reaction with ammonia where the cts-isomer 33B is formed as the major product84. 

Trifluridine has a mechanism of action similar to idoxuridine and vidarabine. Trifluridine is an effective inhibitor of thymidine synthetase and inhibits DNA synthesis in both virus-infected and normal host cells. 

In particular, acyclovir 1 has become important because of its potent antiherpes activity. Interest in this compound was further enhanced by the finding that, in HS V infected cells, its mechanism of action is due to its specific phosphorylation by the viral-encoded (but not cellular) thymidine kinase to acyclo GMP followed by further phosphorylation by cellular GMP and GDP kinases to the triphosphate, acyclo GTP, which is a selective and potent inhibitor of the HSV DNA polymerase.DHPA (3) and DHPG (2) "" also show significant antiviral activity. These findings have stimulated a widespread interest in. and led to the synthesis of. a large number of purine (and pyrimidine) acyclo nucleosides. " "... 

Inhibitors of DNA synthesis and cell replication are TGF-jl and HPI (= hepatic proliferation inhibitor). Their function is to block the growth-promoting factors once the nominal size of the liver has been reached. The regeneration course is, however, also linked to a complex network of biochemical processes, including the polyamines (putrescine, spermidine and spermine) as well as the precursors of nucleic acids (orotate, thymidine and uridine). (17, 33, 47-49, 55, 56)... 

The synthesis of the water-soluble irreversible inhibitor deoxy-thymidine bromoacetyl-5-p-aminophenylphosphate (III) from the... 

---