Derivatives obtained by single replacements or substitutions of groups at eight positions of thymidine (TdR) have been examined as inhibitors of rat mitochondrial (M-TK) and cytoplasmic (C-TK) isozymes of thymidine kinase. A C-TK (pI = 7.5) and an M-TK (pI = 5.1) from rat spleen were purified to apparent isozymic homogeneity by isoelectric focusing. Affinities relative to that of TdR for the TdR sites of the isozymes were derived by dividing the Michaelis constants of TdR by the inhibition constants. Of the eight types of TdR derivatives, five had higher affinity for the M-TK site and two had higher affinity for the C-TK site. The most potent and/or selective inhibitors were 3'-O-benzyl-TdR (affinity for M-TK relative to TdR, 100%; differential affinity for M-TK vs. C-TK, 7.5), 5-amino-2'-deoxyuridine (relative affinity for M-TK, 11%; differential affinity affinity for M-TK, 26), 5'-amino-5'-deoxy-TdR (relative affinity for C-TK, 67%; differential affinity for C-TK, greater than 25). Effects of modifying certain of the substituents indicate that at least some of these TdR derivatives are potential progenitors of TK inhibitors of higher potency and selectivity.

Adenosine 5'-triphosphate (ATP) derivatives bearing iodoacetylamino-n-alkyl substituents [(CH2)nNHCOCH2I] on N6 were synthesized as potential ATP-site-directed irreversible inhibitors of adenylate kinases from rabbit, pig, and carp muscle. When n was 5 no enzyme was progressively inhibited (inactivated) by 1 mM inhibitor under the test conditions (6 h at 0 degrees); when n was 6 the rabbit enzyme was 76% inactivated by 0.79 mM inhibitor whereas the pig and carp enzymes were unaffected by 2.76 mM inhibitor; when n was 7, 1 mM inhibitor inactivated 14% of the rabbit enzyme and did not inactivate the pig and carp enzymes; when n was 8, all enzymes were inactivated 11-15% by 1 mM inhibitor. No inactivation occurred when the iodine of the hexamethylene analogue was replaced by hydrogen. The selective effect occured also in mixtures of the rabbit and pig enzymes and evidence could not be found that the hexamethylene analogue was activated by the rabbit enzyme or deactivated by the pig and carp preparations. The species-specific inactivation in concluded from various lines of evidence to be ATP-site-directed and is attributed to alkylation of an amino acid residue of the rabbit enzyme which in the pig and carp enzymes is absent, inaccessible, or less reactive. These and previous studies with several other enzymes provide evidence that substrate-site-directed agents capable of bonding covalently to an amino acid residue outside the substrate site can be designed to exert species-specific or tissue-specific irreversible inhibition of target enzymes.

Syntheses are described of p1-(adenosine-5')-p3-(glucose-6) triphosphate (Ap3 glucose), Ap4 glucose, and p1-(adenosine-5')-P3-(thymidine-5') triphosphate (Ap3T). The compounds were not substrates of any of the enzymes used in the present studies. Ap3 glucose and Ap4 glucose were inhibitors of yeast hexokinase (HK) and the rat isozymes HK I-III; in general, they had less affinity for the enzymes than the substrates ATP and glucose. Inhibition constants (Ki values) of Ap3T with rat mitochondrial thymidine kinase (M-TK) and rat cytoplasmic TK (C-TK) were determined for variable thymidine (TdR) with a constant saturating level of ATP and for variable ATP with constant saturating TdR. Ap3T was a potent and selective inhibitor of M-TK [KM (TdR)/Ki = 1.6, KM (ATP)/Ki = 38 with variable ATP; KM (TdR) Ki = 0.06, KM (ATP)/Ki = 1.4 with variable TdR] relative to C-TK [KM (TdR)/Ki = 0.006, KM (ATP)/Ki = 0.7 with variable ATP; KM (TdR)/Ki = 0.001, KM (ATP)/Ki = 0.12 with variable TdR]. Inhibition of M-TK and C-TK by Ap3T differed qualitatively and quantitatively from inhibition under the same conditions by the metabolic feedback inhibitor TdR 5'-triphosphate.

5-(Ethylamino)- and 5-acetamido-2'-deoxyuridine 5'-triphosphates were synthesized; the extent and concentration dependence of their inhibitory action on the title enzyme resembled that of the feedback inhibitor TTP. This and other findings provide a tentative indication that bulk tolerance near C-5 of the thymine ring may be more extensive at the TTP site than at the thymidine site. Enzyme-inhibitor dissociation constants (Ki values) were determined for thymidine derivatives monosubstituted at various positions. Competitive inhibition with respect to thymidine (indicative of substituent tolerance in the enzyme-thymidine complex) was produced by 3-amylthymidine (Ki = 65 muM), trans-5-bromo-6-ethoxy-5,6-dihydrothymidine diastereoisomers (Ki = 180 and 310 muM), 5'-C-(acetamidomethyl)- and 5-C-(propionamidomethyl)thymidine epimers (Ki range 65--1100 muM), 3'-acetamido- and 3'-(ethylthio)-3'-deoxythymidines (Ki = 2.5 mM and 12 muM, respectively), and certain 5'-(alkylamino)- and 5'-(alkylthio)-5'-deoxythymidines (Ki range 180--1200 muM). Evidence indicates that bulk tolerance at some, if not most, of the above atoms of thymidine is found in the enzyme-thymidine complexes of human and other mammalian thymidine kinases; attachment of suitable substituents to such atoms could, in principle, lead to thymidine site directed isozyme-specific inhibitors of human cytoplasmic thymidine kinase, which is a candidate target in the design of antineoplastic drugs.

Thymidine 5'-phosphate (TMP) derivatives with masked phosphate groups were synthesized in tritiated form from [methyl-3H]thymidine. They were of interest as models for 5' nucleotide derivatives that might be able to permeate mammalian cells and then liberate intracellular antimetabolite 5' nucleotides by loss of the masking groups. Mouse L fibroblasts were grown in vitro in the presence of 1 mM 5'-amino-5'-deoxythymidine, which was found to suppress greater than 99% of cellular thymidine kinase activity while inhibiting the rate of cell division by only 30%. The TMP derivatives were less effective than thymidine in labeling the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) of the L cells. The labeling was inhibited 95-99% by 5'-amino-5'-deoxythymidine, indicating that it represented incorporation into DNA of [3H]thymidine formed from degradation of the test compounds. No evidence was obtained that the compounds acted as sources of intracellular TMP by cell permeation followed by loss of phosphate blocking groups. Similar studies yielded no evidence that the bis(m-nitrophenyl) ester of TMP produced intracellular TMP by that route in the LM(TK-) strain of L cells that are genetically deficient in thymidine kinase.