Plasma disposition and in vivo and in vitro antitumor activities of mitomycin C-dextran conjugate in relation to the mode of action

Encapsulation of mitomycin C in albumin microspheres markedly alters pharmacokinetics, drug quinone reduction in tumour tissue and antitumour activity. Implications for the drugs' in vivo mechanism of action

Pharmacokinetics and metabolism of mitomycin C (MMC) have been studied in NMRI mice bearing MAC 16 colon adenocarcinoma after direct intratumoural injection of either 500 micrograms free MMC or the same dose incorporated in albumin microspheres. Microspheres produced a tumour pharmacokinetic profile of steady state drug levels, avoiding the much higher early peak (20.5 micrograms/tumour vs 98.9 micrograms/tumour) and lower trough of free MMC, and reducing significantly the levels of drug reaching the systemic circulation (AUC 1.8 micrograms/mL x hr for microspheres vs 6.8 micrograms/mL x hr for free drug). 2,7-Diaminomitosene (2,7-DM), a key intermediate in MMC quinone bioreduction, was used as an indicator of drug metabolic activation in tumour tissue. Peak levels were 10-fold higher (11.2 micrograms/tumour vs 1.1 micrograms/tumour) and area under the curve 5-fold higher after free drug. Even taking into account differences in tumour pharmacokinetic profiles of the parent drug, microspheres actively inhibited 2,7-DM formation 3-fold. However, the microspheres generated a completely different pattern of drug metabolism where four previously uncharacterized mitosane metabolites and elevated levels of cis and trans 1-hydroxy 2,7-diaminomitosene were detected. Despite similar parent drug exposure in tumours, free drug was significantly more active (P < 0.05, Student's t-test) against MAC 16. These results suggest that formation of 2,7-DM correlates more closely with antitumour activity than sustained parent drug levels or appearance of other key metabolites. Potentially, they provide the first direct evidence for an in vivo mechanism of action dependent on bioreductive activation and formation of 2,7-DM.

Incorporation and release of chemically intact mitomycin C from albumin microspheres: a high performance liquid chromatography evaluation

Preparation of mitomycin C-loaded human serum albumin (HSA) microspheres using a new technique that avoids the use of heat denaturation, which is known chemically to degrade incorporated drug, is described. This method is based on cross-linking of protein by glutaraldehyde (2.2%) during emulsification (W/O) at room temperature. The resultant particles have a mean (s.d.) diameter of 16.9 (0.34) microns (50% weight average), contain mean (s.d.) 1.15 (0.05%) mitomycin C (MMC) (w/w, n = 17) and maintain sustained release of drug over 20 h. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with diode array detection was used to study the chemical integrity of the drug. Two classes of decomposition products were evaluated: chemical degradation products and drug/nucleophile covalent adducts. The HPLC separation was validated by a number of standards of proposed degradation products. To examine incorporated drug, a complete microsphere system was solubilized with 0.4% trypsin for 24 h, while to examine released drug, microspheres were immobilized on a flow-through glass wool column and fractions were collected. No evidence of significant chemical degradation or covalent coupling to protein was detected in microsphere digests. Two candidate decomposition products, representing approximately 10% of drug released from microspheres (assuming similar molar extinction coefficients to MMC), were identified in column fractions. One of these products appeared to be a covalent adduct, the other possibly an isomeric form of intact MMC. Thus, MMC is predominantly incorporated into and released (90%) chemically intact from HSA microspheres prepared by the technique described.

Disposition of a polymeric prodrug of mitomycin C, mitomycin C-dextran conjugate, in the perfused rat liver

The disposition of a polymeric prodrug of mitomycin C (MMC), mitomycin C-dextran conjugate (MMC-D), was studied in the single-pass perfused rat liver in order to clarify the effect of physico-chemical properties, such as molecular weight and electric charge, on the hepatic uptake of MMC-D. Six types of MMC-D were used: both cationic MMC-D (MMC-Dcat) and anionic MMC-D (MMC-Dan) conjugated with dextran with molecular weights of 10,000, 70,000, and 500,000. Outflow curves were analyzed using statistical moment theory. Remarkable hepatic uptake of MMC-Dcat was observed and the uptake amount increased with an increase in molecular weight (i.e., approximately 80% of the dose was taken up by the liver during a single passage of the conjugate with a molecular weight of 500,000). Intrinsic clearance (CLint,i) and apparent distribution volume (Vi) also increased as the molecular weight increased. On the other hand, almost 100% of applied MMC-Dan was recovered in the outflow regardless of molecular weight, with almost the same moment parameters as those of the vascular reference substance (VRS), 131I-labeled human serum albumin (HSA). In a repeated application, the uptake of MMC-Dcat decreased in a stepwise manner, suggesting a saturation in the hepatic uptake of MMC-Dcat, while the uptake of MMC-Dan was unchanged. The MMC-Dcat pretreatment also affected the uptake of Evans blue (EB) bound to bovine serum albumin (BSA). These results demonstrate that molecular weight and electric charge determine the hepatic disposition of macromolecular prodrugs.

The accumulation mechanism of cationic mitomycin C-dextran conjugates in the liver: in-vivo cellular localization and in-vitro interaction with hepatocytes

To elucidate the mechanism of the accumulation of mitomycin C-dextran conjugate (MMC-D) in the liver, in-vivo cellular uptake and in-vitro cellular interaction of MMC-D have been studied. Localization of cationic and anionic MMC-D (MMC-Dcat. and MMC-Dan.) in different liver cell types following i.v. administration was examined in rats and the significant contribution of parenchymal cells demonstrated. In-vitro cellular interaction was determined by measuring the drug concentration in the medium after incubation with rat isolated hepatocytes. MMC-Dcat. was highly adsorbed on the surface of hepatocytes at pH 7.2, while the interaction between MMC-Dan. and hepatocytes was negligible. The percentage association of MMC-Dcat. with hepatocytes remained almost constant during the course of incubation and no significant difference was observed between the incubation at 4 and 37 degrees C. The adsorption phenomenon was shown to conform to Langmuir's adsorption isotherm. The amount of MMC-Dcat. associated with hepatocytes increased as the molecular weight of the dextran chain increased. These results showed that MMC-Dcat. was adsorbed on the surface of hepatocytes by an electrostatic force and this binding was responsible for its remarkable accumulation in the liver in-vivo. Thus some physicochemical properties of the MMC-D conjugates are thought to play an important role in the disposition characteristics of the conjugates.

Disposition and tumor localization of mitomycin C-dextran conjugates in mice

Mitomycin C-Dextran conjugates (MMC-D) were intravenously (iv) injected in mice bearing subcutaneous sarcoma 180. The tissue distribution was determined for three 14-C-labeled anionic conjugates (MMC-Dan) with molecular weights of 10, 70, and 500 kd and one cationic 70-kd 14C-conjugate (MMC-Dcat). The anionic conjugates were slowly cleared from the plasma, and their elimination rate decreased with increasing molecular weight. Radioactivity accumulated in liver, spleen, lymph nodes, and tumor but not in heart, lung, intestines, kidney, or muscle after iv injection of all types of 14C-MMC-Dan. In contrast, the cationic conjugate was rapidly cleared from the plasma and accumulated mostly in the liver and spleen, while tumor levels remained low. The antitumor effect of the 70-kd MMC-Dan, which afforded the highest tumor concentration, was superior to that of free MMC. Therefore, anionic mitomycin C-dextran conjugates with a high molecular weight may be useful for tumor targeting in cancer chemotherapy.

Mitomycin antitumour agents: A review of their physico-chemical and analytical properties and stability

The review enumerates the physico-chemical and analytical properties of mitomycin antitumour antibiotics, of which mitomycin C is the most important representative. After a short overview of the position of the compounds in oncology the following subjects will be discussed: structural features, prototropic properties, spectroscopy (UV-VIS, ORD, CD, IR, NMR, MS), chromatography and electrochemistry. The chemical stability and aspects of the mechanism of action of the compounds are also discussed. The last part of the review surveys the analysis of mitomycin C in biological fluids.