Demethylation of ansamitocins and related compounds

Metabolism studies of the anti-tumor agent maytansine and its analog ansamitocin P-3 using liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry

Maytansine, a potent clinically evaluated plant-derived anti-tumor drug, and its microbial counterpart, ansamitocin P-3, showed a substantially higher cytoxicity than many other anti-tumor drugs. Owing to a shortage of material and lack of sufficiently sensitive analytical methods at the time, no metabolism studies were apparently carried out in conjunction with the initial preclinical and clinical studies on maytansine, but some products of decomposition during the period of storage of the formulated drug were reported. In the current study, the in vitro metabolism of maytansine and ansamitocin P-3 was studied after incubation with rat and human liver microsomes in the presence of NADPH, and with rat and human plasma and whole blood, using liquid chromatography/multi-stage mass spectrometry. Unchanged ansamitocin P-3 and 11 metabolites and unchanged maytansine and seven metabolites were profiled and the structures of some metabolites were tentatively assigned based on their multi-stage electrospray ion-trap mass fragmentation data and in some cases accurate mass measurement. The major pathway of ansamitocin P-3 metabolism in human liver microsomes appears to be demethylation at C-10. Oxidation and sequential oxidation/demethylation also occurred, although to a lesser extent. However, the major pathway of maytansine metabolism in human liver microsomes is N-demethylation of the methylamide of the ester moiety. Several minor pathways including O/N-demethylation, oxidation and hydrolysis of the ester bond were also observed. There were no differences in maytansine metabolism between rat and human liver microsomes; however, the rate of metabolism of ansamitocin P-3 was different in rat and human liver microsomes. About 20% of ansamitocin P-3 was converted to its metabolites in rat liver microsomes and about 70% in human liver microsomes under the same conditions. Additionally, 10-O-demethylated ansamitocin P-3 was also detected in the urine after i.v. bolus administration of ansamitocin P-3 to Sprague-Dawley male rats. No metabolites were detected following incubation of maytansine and ansamitocin P-3 with human and rat whole blood and plasma.

Recent Developments in the Maytansinoid Antitumor Agents

Maytansine and its congeners have been isolated from higher plants, mosses and from an Actinomycete, Actinosynnema pretiosum. Many of these compounds are antitumor agents of extraordinary potency, yet phase II clinical trials with maytansine proved disappointing. The chemistry and biology of maytansinoids has been reviewed repeatedly in the late 1970s and early 1980s; the present review covers new developments in this field during the last two decades. These include the use of maytansinoids as "warheads" in tumor-specific antibodies, preliminary metabolism studies, investigations of their biosynthesis at the biochemical and genetic level, and ecological issues related to the occurrence of such typical microbial metabolites in higher plants.