Thymidylate synthetase reaction

Site of action 5-FU per se is devoid of antineoplastic activity and must be converted to the corresponding deoxynucleotide (5-FdUMP, Figure 38.9), which competes with deoxyuridine monophosphate (dUMP) for thymidylate synthetase. 5-FdUMP acts as a pseudosubstrate and is entrapped with the enzyme and its N5,N10-methylene tetrahydrofolic acid coenzyme in a ternary complex that cannot proceed to products. DNA synthesis decreases due to lack of thymidine, leading to imbalanced cell growth and cell death. [Note Leucovorin is given with 5-FU because the reduced folate coenzyme is required in the thymidylate synthetase reaction. Lack of sufficient coenzyme reduces the effectiveness of the antipyrimidine.] 5-FU is also incorporated into RNA and low levels have been detected in DNA. 

Studies on the mechanism of the bacterial thymidylate synthetase reaction employing tritiated H4-folate showed that a hydrogen atom of 5,10-methylene H4-folate was transferred to the thymine methyl group and suggested the formation of a methylene bridge between folate and deoxyuridylate (9). 

Proposed mechanisms for the thymidylate synthetase reaction are discussed in more detail by Blakley (2). 

The synthesis of 5-hydroxymethyldeoxycytidylate should be mentioned at this point, because this process is similar in many respects to the thymidylate synthetase reaction. The enzyme responsible, termed deoxycytidylate hydroxymethylase, catalyzes an H4-folate-dependent introduction of a hydroxymethyl group into the 5-position of deoxycytidylate. 

Thymidylate synthetase catalyzes the reductive methylation of 2 -deoxyuridylate (dUMP) to thymidylate with concomitant conversion of 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate (CH2-H4folate) to 7,8-dihydrofolate. A number of studies of the thymidylate synthetase reaction have led to the proposal that a primary event in the catalytic sequence involves the addition of a nucleophilic group of the enzyme to the 6-position of the substrate dUMP, a required step for subsequent condensation of the 5-posi-... 

Figure 10-5. Conversion of deoxyuridylate (dUMP) to deoxythymidylate (dTMP) by thymidylate synthetase. The importance of folate coenzymes in this reaction is illustrated. NADPH + H provide the necessary reducing equivalents and serine is the source of one-carbon units present on N, N °-methylene tetrahydrofolate (THF).

Pemetrexed is chemically similar to folic acid. It inhibits three enzymes used in purine and pyrimidine synthesis - thymidylate synthetase, dihydrofolate reductase, and glycinamide ribonucleotide formyl transferase. By inhibiting the formation of precursor purine and pyrimidine nucleotides, pemetrexed prevents the formation of DNA and RNA. In 2004 it was approved for treatment of malignant pleural mesothelioma and as a second-line agent for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer. Adverse effects include gastrointestinal complaints, bone marrow suppression, alopecia, allergic and neurotoxic reactions. 

The carbon-donating cofactor for this reaction is N, N methylenetetrahydrofolate, which is converted to dihydrofolate. The reduced folate cofactor occupies an allosteric site on thymidylate synthetase, which allows for the covalent binding of 5-FdUMP to the active site of the enzyme. 

The stereospecific preparation of E- and Z-a-fluorovinylstannanes via the radical reaction of the corresponding a-fluorovinylsulfones with tributyltin hydride has been reported by McCarthy et al. These reagents undergo a variety of destannylation reactions including protolysis, deuterolysis, acylation, iodina-tion, electrophilic fluorination and the Stille coupling reaction [186-189] (Scheme 66). The last reaction has been employed successfully in the synthesis of a fluorinated thymidylate synthetase inhibitor [189] (Scheme 67). 

A key step in DNA biosynthesis, that of conversion of deoxyuridylate (dUMP) to deoxythymidylate (dTMP), is catalyzed by thymidylate synthetase which uses (25) as cofactor. This reaction involves both the transfer of a one carbon unit at the formaldehyde level and hydride transfer (from C-6 of (25)) to produce 7,8-dihydrofolate (27) and dTMP... 

Thymidylate synthetase catalyzes the conversion of deoxyuridylate to deoxy-thymidylate in a folate-dependent reaction. This enzyme is a target for many agents used in chemotherapy of cancer and treatment of infectious diseases. 

In the folate coenzymes, the pteridine ring is fully reduced to tetrahydro-folate, although the oxidized form, dihydrofolate, is an important metabolic intermediate. In the reactions of thymidylate synthetase (Section 10.3.3) and methylene tetrahydrofolate reductase (Section 10.3.2.1), the pteridine ring has a redox role in the reaction. The folate coenzymes are conjugated with up to six additional glutamate residues, finked by y-glutamyl peptide bonds. 

Two reactions are of special interest thymidylate synthetase (Section 10.3.3) and remethylation of homocysteine to methionine (Section 10.3.4). This latter reaction is central to the control of the metabolism of one-carbon compounds and folate. 

The cause of megaloblastosis is depressed DNA synthesis, as a result of impaired methylation of dCDP to TDP, catalyzed by thymidylate synthetase, but more or less normal synthesis of RNA. As discussed in Section 10.3.3, thymidylate synthetase uses methylene tetrahydrofolate as the methyl donor it is obvious that folic acid deficiency will result in unpaired thymidylate synthesis. It is less easy to see how vitamin B12 deficiency results in impaired thymidylate synthesis without invoking the methyl folate trap hypothesis (Section 10.3.4.1). The main circulating form of folic acid is methyl-tetrahydrofolate before this can be used for other reactions in tissues, it must be demethylated to yield free folic acid. The only reaction that achieves this is the reaction of methionine synthetase (Section 10.8.1). Thus, vitamin B12 deficiency results in a functional deficiency of folate. 

B. Replacement of hydrogen Exchange of a hydrogen atom with any of the Class I isosteres often leads to antimetabolite activity. Particularly, replacement of H with the spatially similar F results in analogues that are readily utilized by the various enzymes and incorporated into macromolecules (e.g., 18a 29), except, when the F substitutes for an H which would undergo displacement in the enzymic reaction (cp. action of FUDR-P (18c) as inhibitor of thymidylate synthetase Section 2.3.). 

In vitamin B12 or folate deficiency anemia, megaloblastosis results from interference in fohc acid-and vitamin B -interdependent nucleic acid synthesis in the immature erythrocyte. The rate of RNA and cytoplasm production exceeds the rate of DNA production. The maturation process is retarded, resulting in immature large RBCs (macrocytosis). Synthesis of the RNA and DNA necessary for cell division depends on a series of reactions catalyzed by vitamin B12 and folic acid, as they have a role in the conversion of midine to thymidine. As shown in Fig. 99-4, dietary folates are absorbed in this process and converted (A) to 5-methyl tetrahydrofolate, which is then converted via a Bi2-dependent reaction (B) to tetrahydrofolate (C). After gaining a carbon, tetrahydrofolate is converted to a folate cofactor (D), 5,10-methyl-tetrahydrofolate, used by thymidylate synthetase (E) in the... 

All susceptible fungi are capable of deaminating flucytosine to 5-fluorouracil, a potent antimetabolite that is used in cancer chemotherapy. Fluorouracil is metabolized fast to 5-fluorouracil-ribose monophosphate (5-FUMP) by the enzyme uracil phosphodbosyi transferase (UPRTase, also called uridine monophosphate pyrophosphorylase). As in mammalian cells, 5-FUMP then is either incorporated into RNA (via synthesis of 5-fluorouridine triphosphate) or metabolized to 5-fluoro-2 -5 deoxyuridine-5-monophos-phate (5-FdUMP), a potent inhibitor of thymidylate synthetase. DNA synthesis is impaired as the ultimate inhibition of this latter reaction. The selective action of flucytosine is due to the lack or low levels of cytosine deaminase in mammalian cells, which prevents metabolism to fluorouracil. 

The a- and p-L-fucosyl esters of UMP and dTMP have been prepared as anomeric mixtures by treating the nucleotides with orthoester (15) in DMF. In the absence of methylenetetrahydrofolate cofactor, thymidylate synthetase has been observed to catalyse nucleophilic addition reactions at the ethynyl moiety of 5-ethynyl-2 -deoxyuridylate. On the basis of isotope effects and other kinetic studies, it has been suggested that addition of a thiol group of the enzyme at C-6 of the nucleotides results in formation of the allenic intermediate (16), followed by addition of 2-mercaptoethanol, morpholine, or other nucleophiles at the jp-hybridized carbon of the allene, and subsequent elimination of the enzyme. 

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