The nucleoside analogue 1-(2,3-dideoxy-beta-D-glycero-pent-2-enofuranosyl)thymine (d4T, 1) was prepared by ring opening of the 3',5'-anhydro compound 5. This method has been refined such that it can be used to prepare d4T on a large scale. The triphosphate of d4T was also synthesized from 1 in order to examine the mode of action. The in vitro inhibitory activity of d4T was found to be comparable to that of AZT in HIV-infected CEM cells. The triphosphate of d4T (8) and that of AZT inhibited the HIV reverse transcriptase with poly(rA):oligo(dT) as the template:primer with Ki values of 0.032 and 0.007 microM, respectively. The in vitro toxicity of d4T against normal human hematopoietic progenitor cells (CFU-GM) was measured in comparison to AZT. While d4T reduces colony-forming units by 50% at a concentration of 100 microM, it takes only 1 microM AZT to have a similar toxic effect. With erythrocyte burst forming units (BFU-E) the in vitro toxicities for d4T and AZT have comparable ID50 values of 10 and 6.7 microM, respectively.

Three mouse monoclonal IgG3 antibodies, 2B2, IF4, and MG-21, recognize a GD3 ganglioside antigen that is expressed at the cell surface of most human melanomas. All three antibodies mediate antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) in vitro when tested with human lymphocytes as effector cells in a 2-hr or 4-hr 51Cr-release test, and one antibody, MG-21, also gives strong complement-dependent cytotoxicity with human serum. Antibody 2B2, which gives ADCC also in the presence of mouse lymphocytes, inhibited the outgrowth of a human melanoma in nude mice, but antibody IF4, which showed no ADCC with mouse lymphocyte effectors, did not.There are many approaches to the therapeutic application of antitumor antibodies. One of the most straightforward of these is to use the antibodies alone, without further modification. However, this approach requires antibodies that have strong antitumor effects either by themselves or in the presence of complement or effector cells such as killer (K) cells or macrophages (1).We have produced mouse monoclonal antibodies to several cell surface antigens that are primarily expressed in human melanomas (1)(2)(3)(4). One of the most specific of these antigens is a GD3 ganglioside, which was first defined by Dippold and co-workers (5, 6), using their antibody R24, and subsequently by Yeh and co-workers (7,8), using an IgM antibody, 4.2. We have recently obtained three additional antibodies to this antigen, 2B2, IF4, and MG-21, which, in contrast to antibody 4.2, are of the IgG3 subclass. As described in this paper, they give strong antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) when tested against melanoma cells in the presence of human lymphocytes. Antibody MG-21, but not the others, is strongly cytotoxic to melanoma cells in the presence of human serum as a source of complement. One of the antibodies, 2B2, which gives ADCC also with mouse lymphocytes, inhibited the outgrowth of a human melanoma in nude mice. MATERIALS AND METHODSTumors. Five different human melanoma lines from metastatic melanoma were used. All except one, M-2634, express high levels of the GD3 antigen according to binding assays, which were carried out as previously described (7,8). Four of the lines, SK-MEL-28 (2), M-2669 clone 13, M-2634, and M-2765, were propagated in vitro. The fifth line, M-2586, failed to grow in vitro and so was serially transplanted in nude mice, where it grew better than any of the other lines.Human lung (bronchial) carcinoma line CH27 was used as a control for antibody specificity. It does not express detectable GD3 antigen.Antibodies. BALB/c mice were immunized with SK-MEL-28 cells, and their spleen cells subsequently were hybridized with NS-1 cells. Hybridoma supernatants were screened for binding to GD3 that had been isolated from melanoma tissue and attached to the surface of the wells of Falcon 3034 Microtest plates as previously described (7). Irrelevant gangliosides were included as controls. Hybridomas 2B2 and IF4 were derived from one hybridization, and hybridoma MG-21, fr...

Several 2'-fluoroarabino-2',3'-dideoxy- and 2'-fluoro-2',3'-unsaturated 2',3'-dideoxy pyrimidine nucleoside analogues are reported. The saturated analogues 1-(2,3-dideoxy-2-fluoro-beta-D-threo-pentofuranosyl)thymine (2'-threo-FddT, 33), 1-(2,3-dideoxy-2-fluoro-beta-D-threo-pentofuranosyl)uracil (2'-threo-FddU, 22) were readily prepared from the corresponding 2'-deoxy-2'-fluoroarabinosyl nucleoside analogue by radical deoxygenation of the 3'-OH. The unsaturated compounds 1-(2,3-dideoxy-2-fluoro-beta-D-glycero-pent-2-enofuranosyl)thymine (2'-Fd4T, 40) and 1-[5-O-(mono-methoxytrityl)-2-fluoro-2,3-dideoxy-beta-D-glycero-pen t-2- enofuranosyl]uracil (39) were synthesized by an elimination reaction of the O-2,3'-anhydro-2'-fluoro-lyxo derivatives under basic conditions. The cytidine analogues 28 and 41 were prepared by amination of the corresponding uridine derivatives; compounds 28 and 41 were deprotected to give 1-(2,3-dideoxy-2-fluoro-beta-D-arabinofuranosyl)cytidine (2'-threo-FddC, 29) and 1-(2,3-dideoxy-2-fluoro-beta-D-glycero-pent-2- enofuranosyl)cytosine (2'-Fd4C, 42), respectively. All of these novel compounds were evaluated in vitro against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) (LAV isolate). 2'-threo-FddC (29) was the most active of the newly synthesized substances against HIV with an ID50 of 0.8 microgram/mL; ddC had an ID50 of 0.007 micrograms/mL. Because of its potency in the initial tests, 29 was further evaluated in both T cells and macrophage/monocyte cell lines, with several different isolates of HIV. Although 2'-threo-FddC (29) exhibited good antiviral activity in these systems it was less active than AZT in these assays. At 1 microM the inhibition of CFU-GM by 29 was found to be 35-40%; this is slightly higher than seen with AZT.

A number of methyl derivatives of 9-[2-(phosphonomethoxy)ethyl]guanine (PMEG, 1) have been synthesized and tested in vitro for anti-herpes and anti-human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) activity. Among these analogues, (R)-2'-methyl-PMEG [(R)-3] and 2',2'-dimethyl-PMEG (7) demonstrated potent anti-HIV activity in the XTT assay with EC50 values of 1.0 and 2.6 microM, respectively. The corresponding (S)-2'-methyl-PMEG [(S)-3] was found to be less potent against HIV. In addition, the (R) and (S) enantiomers of 9-[3-hydroxy-2-(phosphonomethoxy)propyl]guanine (HPMPG, 8) were prepared for comparison of biological activity, and shown to be active and equipotent against herpesviruses, but inactive against HIV.

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