Xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) patients with inherited defects in nucleotide excision repair (NER) are unable to excise from their DNA bulky photoproducts induced by UV radiation and therefore develop accelerated actinic damage, including cancer, on sun-exposed tissue. Some XP patients also develop a characteristic neurodegeneration believed to result from their inability to repair neuronal DNA damaged by endogenous metabolites since the harmful UV radiation in sunlight does not reach neurons. Free radicals, which are abundant in neurons, induce DNA lesions that, if unrepaired, might cause the XP neurodegeneration. Searching for such a lesion, we developed a synthesis for 8,5-(S)-cyclo-2-deoxyadenosine (cyclo-dA), a free radical-induced bulky lesion, and incorporated it into DNA to test its repair in mammalian cell extracts and living cells. Using extracts of normal and mutant Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells to test for NER and adult rat brain extracts to test for base excision repair, we found that cyclo-dA is repaired by NER and not by base excision repair. We measured host cell reactivation, which reflects a cell's capacity for NER, by transfecting CHO and XP cells with DNA constructs containing a single cyclo-dA or a cyclobutane thymine dimer at a specific site on the transcribed strand of a luciferase reporter gene. We found that, like the cyclobutane thymine dimer, cyclo-dA is a strong block to gene expression in CHO and human cells. Cyclo-dA was repaired extremely poorly in NER-deficient CHO cells and in cells from patients in XP complementation group A with neurodegeneration. Based on these findings, we propose that cyclo-dA is a candidate for an endogenous DNA lesion that might contribute to neurodegeneration in XP.

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Methyl 4-(isothiocyanatomethyl)thiazole-2-carbamate and methyl 4-(isothiocyanatomethyl)selenazole-2-carbamate have been prepared via chemical transformations involving 2-amino-4-(chloromethyl)thiazole (1) and 2-amino-4-(chloromethyl)selenazole (2), respectively, as starting materials. The homoanalog, methyl 4-(2-isothiocyanatoethyl)thiazole-2-carbamate, was prepared from (2-aminothiazol-4-yl)acetic acid. All compounds prepared were evaluated for their ability to inhibit leukemia L1210 cell proliferation. Methyl 4-(isothiocyanatomethyl)thiazole-2-carbamate (7) was the most active compound in this screen, inhibiting the growth of L1210 leukemic cells with an IC50 = 3.2 microM. Mitotic blocking appears to be its primary mechanism of cytotoxic activity. Compound 7 also was the only compound which demonstrated significant in vivo antifilarial activity against the adult worms of Acanthocheilonema viteae in experimentally infected jirds. This compound was inactive against Brugia pahangi at a dosage of 100 mg/kg x 5 days.

A basis for interest in the benzimidazole ring system as a nucleus from which to develop potential chemotherapeutic agents was established in the 1950s when it was found that 5,6-dimethyl-l-(alpha-D-ribofuranosyl)benzimidazole (I) was an integral part of the [structure: see text] structure of vitamin B(12). As a result of these interests and extensive studies, one health related arena that has benefited greatly has been the treatment of parasitic diseases. The discovery of thiabendazole in 1961 further spurred chemists around the world to design and synthesize several thousand benzimidazoles for screening for anthelmintic activity but less than twenty of them have reached commercial use. Much of this work has been done by pharmaceutical companies and is only reported in the patent literature. In this paper, Leroy Townsend and Dean Wise review the development of some of the synthetic methods that have been critical to the preparation of the benzimidazoles of anthelmintic importance. Only a few molecules that demonstrate the processes are discussed here, but numerous reviews of the synthesis and chemistry of other benzimidazoles are available.

The synthesis of a series of 2-arylamido and 2-alkylamido derivatives of 2-amino-4-(isothiocyanatomethyl)thiazole and 2-amino-4-(isothiocyanatomethyl)selenazole is described. In vitro antiproliferative evaluations were carried out using L1210 cells. The 2-(alkylamido)thiazole derivatives were moderately antiproliferative, with IC50's of 4-8 microM. A significant increase in activity was obtained for the arylamido derivatives, with IC50's of 0.2-1 microM. The results obtained for the selenazoles were similar to those for the thiazoles. 2-Benzamido-4-(isothiocyanatomethyl)-thiazole (19) was found to be a potent inhibitor of GMP synthetase. None of the compounds prepared in this study demonstrated antifilarial activity.