Pepleomycin (PEP) is a metalloglycopeptide that has stronger anticancer activity and less pulmonary toxicity than bleomycin (BLM). PEP, like BLM, exerts its action by binding to and degrading DNA in the presence of oxygen and certain metals. Obtaining detailed structural information of PEP and PEP-DNA complexes is crucial to understanding its anticancer activity. The structures of two green forms of cobalt-PEP species, HOT-Co(II1)-PEP (denoted CoPEP) and deglycosylated HOT-Co(II1)-PEP (denoted CodPEP) have been obtained by NOE restrained refinements. Earlier studies of the related H0;-Co(II1)-BLM A, proposed that two chiral conformers (form A or B) could exist with either the /I-aminoalanine primary amine (A,NH,) or the mannose carbamoyl nitrogen (M,NH,) as the axial ligand. Analysis of our NOESY data shows convincingly that form A is the most probable conformer with the mannose carbamoyl M,NH, and the p-aminoalanine primary amine A,NH, as the axial ligands in CoPEP and CodPEP, respectively. The NOE cross-peaks resulting from the interactions between the N-terminus (i.e., the metalbinding domain) and the C-terminus of CoPEP and CodPEP have similar patterns, suggesting that they both adopt compact structures with the bithiazole group folded back over the N-terminus.Keywords : pepleomycin ; deglycosylated pepleomycin ; DNA ; two-dimensional NMR ; solution structure.Bleoniycins (BLMs) are a group of structurally related metalloglycopeptide antitumor antibiotics [ I]. The structure of BLM ( Fig. 1) is commonly divided into three functional domains. The N-terminus, or metal-binding domain, is responsible for metal binding, oxygen bindinglactivation, and DNA binding [2]. The disaccharide participates in metal-ion binding [3, 41 and may additionally be involved in cell surface recognition [5]. The Cterminus, or DNA-binding domain, is composed of a bithiazole group plus a substituent and participates in DNA binding [6]. BLMs differ from one another in their C-terminal substituents [7] and show varying biological activity.Presently, a mixture of BLMs (mainly of BLM-A, and BLM-B2) are clinically used for the treatment of certain cancers including squamous cell carcinomas, testicular tumors and malignant lymphomas [8, 91. The most adverse side effect is pulmonary fibrosis. To produce a more potent and less toxic drug, about 300 derivatives of BLM have been prepared and screened [lo]. Among these is pepleomycin, PEP, (Fig. 1) The therapeutic effects of BLM and PEP are believed to derive from their ability to bind to and selectively degrade DNA [15, 161, and possibly RNA [17], in the presence of molecular oxygen and certain metal ions. BLM was first isolated as the 1 : 1 cupric-BLM complex [l], but the ferrous-BLM complex has been proposed as the biologically active species [18]. Fe(I1)-BLM reacts with molecular oxygen to produce an activated form of the drug (reactions 1 and 2) which binds to DNA and mediates DNA strand scission by abstracting the C4' hydrogen of the deoxyribose of a pyrimidine nucleotide adjacent to guan...

Pepleomycin (PEP)1 is a metalloglycopeptide antitumor antibiotic that has improved pharmacological properties than does bleomycin (BLM). Both PEP and BLM bind to and degrade DNA in a sequence-selective manner. The binding interactions of HO2--Co(III)-CodPEP (CodPEP) with CGTACG have been studied by 2D NMR and molecular modeling. Inspection of the 2D-NMR data revealed 60 notable intermolecular NOEs between CodPEP and CGTACG which place the drug's metal binding domain and peptide linker in the minor groove of the DNA close to G8 and T9. On the basis of the NOEs, the drug's DNA binding domain is located close to the T9.A4 and A10.T3 base pairs. Intercalation of the bithiazole tail between these base pairs is indicated by the loss of DNA symmetry upon complexation with CodPEP, by a break in the sequential connectivity at the TpA steps, and by the upfield shift of the bithiazole H-H5 and H-H5' proton resonances. Intercalation of the bithiazole moiety unfolds the CodPEP molecule and exposes its hydroperoxide group to the DNA. The hydroperoxide group in the refined model of CodPEP-CGTACG is close to the C4' proton of T9, consistent with cleavage at this position. The NOE pattern between the pyrimidine ring of CodPEP and G8 of DNA suggests a specific pairing recognition via hydrogen bonds between these groups, thus establishing a 5'-GT-3' sequence preference. The structural elucidation of the free CodPEP and CoPEP [Caceres-Cortes et al. (1997) Eur. J. Biochem. 244, 818-828], and of the complex of CodPEP-CGTACG afford a plausible mechanism for the recognition and its subsequent cleaving of DNA by the drug. The process involves the unfolding of the compact CodPEP, recognition of a guanine base using the metal binding domain, threading of the bithiazole tail between base pairs, and finally positioning of the HO2- group close to the T or C found 3' to the specific G site.

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High-affinity, functionally potent, urea-based antagonists of CCR1 have been discovered. Modulation of PXR transactivation has revealed the selective and orally bioavailable CCR1 antagonist BMS-817399 (29), which entered clinical trials for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.