Induction of thymidine phosphorylase expression by AZT contributes to enhancement of 5'-DFUR cytotoxicity

Esterase-Responsive Self-Immolative Prodrugs for the Sustained Delivery of the Anticancer Drug 5-Fluorouracil with Turn-On Fluorescence

Stimuli-responsive prodrugs of anticancer drugs are advantageous for the selective delivery of drugs to cancer cells with minimized off-target side effects. In the present study, esterase-activatable fluorogenic prodrugs of the chemotherapeutic drug 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) have been rationally designed and synthesized using multi-step organic synthesis. While 5-FU was connected directly with the fluorophore via a C-N bond in the prodrug BJ-50, an additional self-immolative benzylic spacer with a carbonate linker was incorporated in the prodrug BJ-92. Although absorption and emission spectroscopic studies revealed the activation of both the prodrugs by porcine liver esterase (PLE), reverse-phase HPLC studies confirmed the inability of BJ-50 to release the active drug 5-FU. In contrast, a sustained release of 5-FU and Cou-OH was observed from BJ-92 in the presence of PLE. The endogenous esterase-mediated activation of the prodrug BJ-92 was validated by the turn-on fluorescence in A549 cells and the anti-proliferative activities in A549, and HEK-293 cells. Modulation of the expression of a few cancer marker proteins by BJ-92 and 5-FU was studied to evaluate their anticancer activities. As esterases are overexpressed in cancer cells, the prodrug in the present study would be helpful in selectively delivering 5-FU to cancer cells with reduced off-target side-effects.

A novel near-infrared theranostic probe for accurate cancer chemotherapy in vivo by a dual activation strategy

A novel theranostic probe called CX-B-DF is constructed for precise chemotherapy guided by near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence imaging. Moreover, the theranostic probe shows high cytotoxicity to cancer cells under dual activation (H2O2 and TP), which causes the accuracy of drug release to be improved and the toxic side effects to be reduced.

Efficient Expression of Soluble Recombinant Protein Fused with Core-Streptavidin in Bacterial Strain with T7 Expression System

The limited amount of fusion protein transported into cytosol milieu has made it challenging to obtain a sufficient amount for further applications. To avoid the laborious and expensive task, T7 promoter-driving pET-30a(+) coding for chimeric gene of thymidine phosphorylase and core streptavidin as a model system was constructed and transformed into a variety of E. coli strains with T7 expression system. Our results demonstrated that the pET-30a(+)-TP-coreSA/Lemo21(DE3) system is able to provide efficient expression of soluble TP-coreSA fusion protein for purification. Moreover, the eluted TP-coreSA fusion protein tethered on biotinylated A549 carcinoma cells could effectively eliminate these malignant cells after administrating prodrug 5′-DFUR.

Efficacy of adeno-associated virus gene therapy in a MNGIE murine model enhanced by chronic exposure to nucleosides

BACKGROUND

Preclinical studies have shown that gene therapy is a feasible approach to treat mitochondrial neurogastrointestinal encephalomyopathy (MNGIE). However, the genetic murine model of the disease (Tymp/Upp1 double knockout, dKO) has a limited functional phenotype beyond the metabolic imbalances, and so the studies showing efficacy of gene therapy have relied almost exclusively on demonstrating correction of the biochemical phenotype. Chronic oral administration of thymidine (dThd) and deoxyuridine (dUrd) to dKO mice deteriorates the phenotype of the animals, providing a better model to test therapy approaches.

METHODS

dKO mice were treated with both dThd and dUrd in drinking water from weaning until the end of the study. At 8 - 11 weeks of age, mice were treated with several doses of adeno-associated virus (AAV) serotype 8 vector carrying the human TYMP coding sequence under the control of different liver-specific promoters (TBG, AAT, or HLP). The biochemical profile and functional phenotype were studied over the life of the animals.

FINDINGS

Nucleoside exposure resulted in 30-fold higher plasma nucleoside levels in dKO mice compared with non-exposed wild type mice. AAV-treatment provided elevated TP activity in liver and lowered systemic nucleoside levels in exposed dKO mice. Exposed dKO mice had enlarged brain ventricles (assessed by magnetic resonance imaging) and motor impairment (rotarod test); both were prevented by AAV treatment. Among all promoters tested, AAT showed the best efficacy.

INTERPRETATION

Our results show that AAV-mediated gene therapy restores the biochemical homeostasis in the murine model of MNGIE and, for the first time, demonstrate that this treatment improves the functional phenotype.

FUNDING

This work was funded in part by the Spanish Instituto de Salud Carlos III, and the Generalitat de Catalunya. The disclosed funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Interferon-α enhances 5'-deoxy-5-fluorouridine-induced apoptosis by ERK-dependant upregulation of thymidine phosphorylase

5-Florouracil (5-FU) is the basic agent used in the treatment of gastric cancer. Capecitabine, a prodrug of 5-FU, displays increased antitumor efficacy compared with 5-FU in the clinic. 5′-Deoxy-5-fluorouracil (5′-DFUR), the metabolite of capecitabine, is converted to 5-FU by the enzyme thymidine phosphorylase (TP), which is present at high concentrations in human tumors. In this study, we investigated the effect of interferon-α (IFN-α) on the sensitivity of gastric cancer cells to treatment with 5′-DFUR and its relationship with TP expression. Preincubation of gastric cancer cells with IFN-α enhanced 5′-DFUR-induced apoptosis via IFN-α-mediated upregulation of TP. The depletion of TP with small interfering RNA (siRNA) obviously inhibited IFN-α-induced upregulation of TP expression and thus prevented apoptosis induced by IFN-α and 5′-DFUR. Treatment with IFN-α and combined IFN-α and 5′-DFUR treatment were also associated with concomitant activation of ERK signaling. Treatment with the ERK inhibitor PD98059 or depletion of ERK with siRNA partially reversed IFN-α-induced upregulation of TP expression, thus partially preventing apoptosis induced by IFN-α and 5′-DFUR. Taken together, our study shows that IFN-α enhanced 5′-DFUR-induced apoptosis in gastric cancer cells by upregulation of TP expression, which is partially regulated by activation of ERK signaling.

Azidothymidine enhances fluorodeoxyuridine-mediated radiosensitization

PURPOSE

To examine the role of DNA repair and altered thymidine analogues in altering the response to radiation during thymidine deprivation.

METHODS AND MATERIALS

Mismatch repair-deficient and -proficient cell lines HEC59 and HC-2.4 were treated with fluorodeoxyuridine (FUdR), azidothymidine (AZT), and irradiation either alone or in combination, and outcomes of clonogenic survival and cell-cycle distributions were determined.

RESULTS

Survival outcomes for all treatments were similar for both cell lines, suggesting that hMSH2 does not significantly influence thymidine deprivation toxicity or radiosensitization. The chain-terminating thymidine analogue AZT increased the toxicity of FUdR and increased DNA fragmentation. The combination of FUdR and AZT afforded greater radiosensitization than either drug alone. Drug enhancement ratios, the degree of excess radiation-induced cell death in drug-treated cultures compared with radiation alone for HEC59, were 1.2, 1.4, and 1.8 for AZT, FUdR, and the combination, respectively. Enhancement ratios for HC-2.4 were 1.3, 1.5, and 1.8 for AZT, FUdR, and the combination, respectively.

CONCLUSION

Azidothymidine, a chain-terminating thymidine analogue, can enhance the radiosensitizing affects of thymidine deprivation. Deoxyribonucleic acid strand breaks may play an important role in the mechanism of thymidine deprivation-induced radiosensitization.

Preoperative administration of xeloda on the angiogenesis and expression of thymidine phosphorylase/platelet-derived endothelial cell growth factor in colorectal cancer

AIM: To investigate the effect of capecitabine (xeloda) by preoperation administration on the microvessel density (MVD) and expression of thymidine phosphorylase/platelet-derived endothelial cell growth factor (TP/PD-ECGF) in patients with colorectal cancer.

METHODS: Immunohistochemical staining of CD34 and TP/PD-ECGF monoclonal antibodies was performed in 32 colorectal cancer patients with preoperative xeloda chemotherapy and 25 cases without chemotherapy (served as controls), and then the expression of TP/PD-ECGF and MVD were analyzed.

RESULTS: The positive rate of TP/PD-ECGF expression in patients with chemotherapy was significantly lower than that in the controls (31.2% vs 60.0%, P < 0.05). As compared with that in the controls, the value of MVD in patients with chemotherapy was markedly different (20.7 ± 8.5 vs 42.3 ± 7.8, P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION: Preoperation chemotherapy of xeloda can decrease the activity of TP/PD-ECGF and inhibit the angiogenesis in colorectal cancer.