Don R. Phillips

Doxorubicin-DNA Adducts Induce a Non-Topoisomerase II-Mediated Form of Cell Death

Doxorubicin (Adriamycin) is one of the most commonly used chemotherapeutic drugs and exhibits a wide spectrum of activity against solid tumors, lymphomas, and leukemias. Doxorubicin is classified as a topoisomerase II poison, although other mechanisms of action have been characterized. Here, we show that doxorubicin-DNA adducts (formed by the coadministration of doxorubicin with non-toxic doses of formaldehyde-releasing prodrugs) induce a more cytotoxic response in HL-60 cells than doxorubicin as a single agent. Doxorubicin-DNA adducts seem to be independent of classic topoisomerase II-mediated cellular responses (as observed by employing topoisomerase II catalytic inhibitors and HL-60/MX2 cells). Apoptosis induced by doxorubicin-DNA adducts initiates a caspase cascade that can be blocked by overexpressed Bcl-2, suggesting that adducts induce a classic mode of apoptosis. A reduction in the level of topoisomerase II-mediated double-strand-breaks was also observed with increasing levels of doxorubicin-DNA adducts and increased levels of apoptosis, further confirming that adducts exhibit a separate mechanism of action compared with the classic topoisomerase II poison mode of cell death by doxorubicin alone. Collectively, these results indicate that the presence of formaldehyde transfers doxorubicin from topoisomerase II-mediated cellular damage to the formation of doxorubicin-DNA adducts, and that these adducts are more cytotoxic than topoisomerase II-mediated lesions. These results also show that doxorubicin can induce apoptosis by a non-topoisomerase II-dependent mechanism, and this provides exciting new prospects for enhancing the clinical use of this agent and for the development of new derivatives and new tumor-targeted therapies.

Solution properties of wheat-flour arabinoxylans and enzymically modified arabinoxylans

Abstract A series of water-soluble arabinoxylans has been prepared from purified wheat-flour arabinoxylan by partial removal of arabinosyl side-branches using an α- L -arabinofuranosidase. Their solubilities, molecular weights, intrinsic viscosities, and degrees of hydration were measured. The results suggest that the arabinoxylan assumes an extended rod-like conformation in solution. The solubilizing effect of arabinosyl substituents was not the result of increased hydration, but due to their ability to prevent intermolecular aggregation of unsubstituted xylose residues. The extended conformation of arabinoxylan is consistent with its known organization and function in plant cell-walls.

SUBCELLULAR LOCALIZATION OF PORPHYRINS USING CONFOCAL LASER SCANNING MICROSCOPY

The in vitro subcellular distribution patterns of 10 porphyrins, varying in hydrophobicity and charge, were studied using confocal laser scanning microscopy on two cell lines (V79 and C6 glioma cells) for incubation times up to 24 h. All of the porphyrins were taken up rapidly by both cell lines and distinct classes of subcellular distribution patterns were observed: general cytoplasmic staining; localization in lysosomes (usually associated with general cytoplasmic staining); localization in mitochondria (and general cytoplasmic staining); localization in mitochondria with subsequent uptake into lysosomes. Structure‐localization relationships which have emerged are that porphyrins with dominantly cationic side chains localize in mitochondria, whereas those with a more anionic character tend to localize in lysosomes.

EVALUATION OF PORPHYRIN CHARACTERISTICS REQUIRED FOR PHOTODYNAMIC THERAPY

Abstract— The cytotoxicity (in the dark), phototoxicity (red light) and subcellular localization (using confocal laser scanning microscopy) were determined for 15 porphyrins (1–15) in C6 glioma cells. The partition coefficient in 2‐octanol was also determined for each porphyrin at pH 7.4. The cytotoxicity increased with π (log of partition coefficient) up to π values of +2. The 7 porphyrins with cationic side chains exhibited a classical parabolic correlation between phototoxicity and π, with maximal activity at a π value of approximately 1.0. There was also a significant correlation between subcellular localization and degree of phototoxicity, with the three most photosensitive porphyrins all possessing cationic side chains, and all three localizing in mitochondria.

INHIBITION OF RNA POLYMERASE II TRANSCRIPTION IN HUMAN CELL EXTRACTS BY CISPLATIN DNA DAMAGE

The anticancer drug cisplatin induces a spectrum of lesions in DNA. The effect of such DNA damage on transcription by RNA polymerase II (RNA pol II) in human cell extracts was investigated at the level of initiation and elongation. RNA pol II transcription directed from the adenovirus major late promoter was inhibited following treatment of the promoter-containing template with increasing concentrations of cisplatin. Furthermore, transcription from an undamaged promoter fragment was depleted in the presence of increasing amounts of cisplatin DNA damage on an exogenous plasmid, suggesting such damage may hijack an essential factor for transcription initiation. The effect of cisplatin damage on RNA pol II elongation was investigated using site-specifically-placed cisplatin adducts. The GTG adduct was an effective block to RNA pol II elongation, inhibiting the polymerase by 80%. In contrast, RNA pol II completely bypassed the cisplatin GG intrastrand adduct. These studies suggest that the inhibition of RNA pol II transcription observed following the treatment of cells with cisplatin is likely to reflect the combined effects of DNA damage at the level of both transcription initiation and elongation.

Detection of Adriamycin–DNA adducts by accelerator mass spectrometry at clinically relevant Adriamycin concentrations

Limited sensitivity of existing assays has prevented investigation of whether Adriamycin–DNA adducts are involved in the anti-tumour potential of Adriamycin. Previous detection has achieved a sensitivity of a few Adriamycin–DNA adducts/104 bp DNA, but has required the use of supra-clinical drug concentrations. This work sought to measure Adriamycin–DNA adducts at sub-micromolar doses using accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS), a technique with origins in geochemistry for radiocarbon dating. We have used conditions previously validated (by less sensitive decay counting) to extract [14C]Adriamycin–DNA adducts from cells and adapted the methodology to AMS detection. Here we show the first direct evidence of Adriamycin–DNA adducts at clinically-relevant Adriamycin concentrations. [14C]Adriamycin treatment (25 nM) resulted in 4.4 ± 1.0 adducts/107 bp (∼1300 adducts/cell) in MCF-7 breast cancer cells, representing the best sensitivity and precision reported to date for the covalent binding of Adriamycin to DNA. The exceedingly sensitive nature of AMS has enabled over three orders of magnitude increased sensitivity of Adriamycin–DNA adduct detection and revealed adduct formation within an hour of drug treatment. This method has been shown to be highly reproducible for the measurement of Adriamycin–DNA adducts in tumour cells in culture and can now be applied to the detection of these adducts in human tissues.

PHOTOSENSITIZED DEGRADATION OF DNA BY DAUNOMYCIN

Abstract Visible irradiation of DNA‐daunomycin solutions resulted in a decrease of viscosity of the DNA and an increase of the rate of denaturation of DNA in formaldehyde. These changes are consistent with the induction of single‐strand breaks in the DNA, some of which pair to cause fragmentation of the DNA. The DNA damage increases with drug: nucleotide ratio up to 0.2 and is diminished beyond that range. The damage also increases with ionic strength up to 0.6 M and is diminished above that value. These results suggest that the non‐intercalated form of the drug is involved in the photosensitization process. Radicals that are produced accompanying the degradation have been trapped by 5,5‐dimeth‐yl‐l‐pyrroline‐1‐oxide and identified as hydroxyl radicals from their ESR spectrum. The DNA photosensitized damage is completely inhibited when hydroxyl radicals are removed by the spin‐trap, suggesting a direct role for the hydroxyl radicals in the DNA photosensitized degradation process. The implications of the photosensitized DNA damage and the production of hydroxyl radicals in this process are discussed with respect to the medical uses and chemotherapeutic role of daunomycin.

DNA targeted platinum complexes: synthesis, cytotoxicity and DNA interactions of cis-dichloroplatinum(II) complexes tethered to phenazine-1-carboxamides

A series of intercalator-tethered platinum(II) complexes PtLCl2 have been prepared, where L are the diamine ligands N-[2-[(aminoethyl)amino]ethyl]-phenazine-1-carboxamide, N-[3-[(2-aminoethyl)amino]propyl]-phenazine-1-carboxamide, N-[4-[(2-aminoethyl)amino]butyl]-phenazine-1-carboxamide and N-[5-[(aminoethyl)amino]pentyl]-phenazine-1-carboxamide. Measurements of the time-course of unwinding of supercoiled pUC19 plasmid DNA by the phenazine complexes PtLCl2 reveal that the presence of the intercalator leads to enhanced rates of DNA platination when compared with the complex Pt(en)Cl2. The platinum(II) complexes where the polymethylene linker chain contains three, four or five carbon atoms are considerably more cytotoxic against murine P388/W than either cisplatin, Pt(en)Cl2, or the metal-free ligands themselves.

Evaluation of tumour and tissue distribution of porphyrins for use in photodynamic therapy

A range of pure, monomeric porphyrins were synthesised and their localising capacities compared to HpD and Hp at 6 h and 24 h post injection in the mouse C6 intracerebral glioma model as well as in normal brain, skin, muscle, kidney, spleen, liver, lung and whole blood. The partition coefficients were examined between PBS and 2-octanol over the pH range 7.4-6.6 and pH profiles were established. A parabolic relationship was observed between log (porphyrin tumour concentration) at pH 7.4, with maximal tumour localisation at log (partition coefficient), pi, of approximately zero. Porphyrins with side chains with nett cationic character also exhibited up upward (parabolic) dependence on pi for most tissues studied, with maximal porphyrin localisation at pi of 0-0.5. In contrast, those porphyrins with nett anionic character exhibited a downward (negative) parabolic trend for all eight tissues studied, with minimal porphyrin localisation at pi of approximately zero. Four porphyrins (4, 11, 12, 13) exhibited similar or better tumour localisation than HpD, and two (11 and 12) offer promise as lead compounds for the design of improved porphyrins for use in PDT.

DNA sequence-specific adducts of adriamycin and mitomycin C

Adriamycin and mitomycin C were reduced by xanthine oxidase/NADH in the presence of a DNA template comprising a stable initiated ternary transcription complex derived from the lac UV5 promoter. Subsequent elongation of the transcription complex treated with mitomycin C revealed high levels of terminated transcripts one nucleotide prior to G residues on the coding strand (i.e. at X of XpC sequences of the non‐coding strand). Lower levels of termination occurred with adriamycin, and these were also one nucleotide prior to G residues of the coding strand, but with greater sequence specificity since they were observed mainly at G of GpC sequences of the non‐coding strand. The same sites were also observed with adriamycin in the absence of reducing conditions and the level of termination at these sites was enhanced up to 10‐fold by Fe2+ and Fe3+, but not by Cu2+, Zn2+, Cu2+ or Ni2+. These results suggest that an iron‐adriamycin complex with DNA is highly sequence‐specific and results in adducts, similar to those of mitomycin C, which can terminate the transcription process. Such a mechanism offers new insights into the possible mode of action of anthracyclines.