Nucleoside analoge cytotoxicity-focus on enzyme regulation, metabolism, and mechanisms of resistance

Abstract: The aim of this thesis was to determine the role of nucleoside analog activating and deactivating enzymes in nucleoside analog metabolism and resistance development. Nucleoside analogs are anti-cancer drogs and are often used to treat different leukemias, attributably to presence of high levels of nucleoside analog activating enzymes in hematopoietic cells. More recently some of the newer analogs have been used  successfully to treat solid tumors as well.We have used human leukemic cell lines, and isolated cells from patients with leukemia, to investigate the nucleoside analog activating enzymes deoxycytidine kinase (dCK) and deoxyguanosine kinase (dGK) and some of the deactivating enzymes called 5'nucleotidases (5'-NTs). We have measured mRNA expressions and enzymatic activities and correlated them with the cytotoxic response to nuc1eoside analogs and changes in cell cycle progression. We optimized and evaluated a siRNA-transfection method and decreased the activities of dCK and dGK in two different cell lines in order to find out more about their respective contribution to activation of these drogs. An expression microarray analysis of a nucleoside analog resistant cell line was also performed in order to clarify which genes are involved in development of resistance.We found that expressions and activities of dCK and dGK were not correlated. The enzyme activities of activating and deactivating enzymes changed during cell cycle progression, giving actively proliferating cells a more favorable enzymatic profile with regard to nucleoside analog cytotoxicity.The activities of dCK and dGK could be reduced transiently in leukemic and solid tumor cell lines, thereby confer either resistance or increased sensitivity to nucleoside analogs to variable degrees. Expression microarray analysis was used to evaluate the effect of the transfection method and the specificity of siRNA. We concluded that cells tolerated the transfection weIl without major effects on gene expression, and considered the siRNA used to be specific to its target.An expression microarray experiment on a nucleoside analog-induced resistant cell line revealed a hypomethylating capacity of the drog and induction of fetal hemoglobin and a multidrog resistance efflux pump as a result of the hypomethylation. This pump should not be affected by nucleoside analoges since they are not a substrate of it, and upregulation of the pump unfortunately renders the cells highly cross-resistant to different types of drogs. Our preliminary data supports our theory that it may be upregulated in order to help excrete hemoglobin that otherwise would be toxic to the cells.