The intense intrinsic fluorescence emissions from several clinically relevant camptothecin drugs have been exploited in order to study the structural basis of drug binding to human serum albumin. Both HPLC and time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopic methodologies were employed to characterize the associations of camptothecins with HSA in phosphate-buffered saline (pH 7.4) at 37 degrees C. The alpha-hydroxy delta-lactone ring moiety of camptothecin (C), 10-hydroxycamptothecin (HC), 10,11-(methylenedioxy)camptothecin (MC) and 9-chloro-10,11-(methylenedioxy)camptothecin (CMC) was in each case observed to hydrolyze more rapidly and completely in the presence of HSA than in the protein's absence. Binding isotherms constructed by the method of fluorescence lifetime titration showed that HSA bound preferentially the carboxylate forms of C, HC, MC, and CMC over their lactone forms, thereby providing an explanation for the shift to the right in the lactone-carboxylate equilibrium observed for each compound upon HSA addition. In marked contrast, three analogues (SN-38, CPT-11, and topotecan) all displayed enhanced stabilities in the presence of HSA. While the lifetimes of CPT-11, topotecan, and the carboxylate forms of both drugs were insensitive to the addition of HSA, the lifetimes of both SN-38 and its carboxylate form did titrate upon HSA addition. Analysis of binding isotherms constructed for the albumin interactions of SN-38 and its carboxylate form demonstrated a higher overall association constant for the lactone form [640 (M amino acid (aa) residues)-1] relative to the carboxylate form [150 (M aa)-1]. Our studies indicate that specific modifications at the 7- and 9-positions of the quinoline nucleus, such as those contained in CPT-11, topotecan, and SN-38, enhance drug stability in the presence of HSA. In the case of SN-38, the enhanced stability was shown to be due to preferential associations between the drug's lactone form and the blood protein.

The intrinsic fluorescent emissions from the lactone and carboxylate forms of camptothecin have been exploited in order to elucidate their markedly different interactions with the various components of human blood. In phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) at pH 7.4, human serum albumin (HSA) preferentially binds the carboxylate form with a 150-fold higher affinity than the lactone form; these interactions result in camptothecin opening more rapidly and completely in the presence of HSA than in the protein's absence [Burke, T.G., & Mi, Z. (1993) Anal. Biochem. 212, 285-287]. In human plasma, at pH 7.4 and 37 degrees C, we have observed camptothecin lactone to open rapidly and fully to the carboxylate form (t1/2 = 11 min; % lactone at equilibrium, 0.2%). Substitution of a 10-hydroxy moiety into the camptothecin fluorophore makes the agent's emission spectrum highly sensitive to microenvironment polarity; we have observed pronounced blue shifting (from 530 to 430 nm) in the emission spectra of the hydroxy-substituted carboxylate both upon HSA association as well as upon drug dissolution in organic solvents of low dielectric strength. Hence, it appears that camptothecin carboxylate's fluorophore locates in a hydrophobic binding pocket in native HSA. Ionic interactions also appear to strongly affect binding between camptothecin carboxylate and the HSA binding pocket, since a 6-fold increase in solution salt concentration diminished camptothecin carboxylate binding by 10-fold. Our findings that HSA denaturation abolishes high-affinity binding indicate that interactions of the carboxylate drug form are specific for the native HSA conformation. Interestingly, high-affinity binding of the carboxylate appeared not to occur in the presence of other blood proteins, such as gamma-globulin, alpha 1-acid glycoprotein, fibrinogen, and the oxy and deoxy forms of hemoglobin. In whole blood versus plasma, camptothecin was found to display enhanced stability (t1/2 value of 22 min and a lactone concentration at equilibrium value of 5.3%). The enhanced stability of camptothecin in human blood was found to be due to drug associations with the lipid bilayers of red blood cells. Camptothecin lactone partitions into the lipid bilayers of erythrocytes, with the drug locating in a hydrophobic environment protected from hydrolysis.

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Camptothecin, an anticancer agent reknown for its novel mechanism of action and outstanding murine in vivo activity, has to date displayed only modest therapeutic utility against human cancers. The drug contains an delta-lactone ring moiety which, at pH7.4, hydrolyzes to yield a biologically inactive carboxylate form. Comparison of drug stability in both plasma and purified serum albumin samples revealed that ring opening occurred to a much greater extent in human samples versus those of other species. Multifrequency phase-modulation spectroscopic analyses of the intrinsic fluorescence emissions of the two drug forms revealed a physical explanation for the extensive ring opening observed in the presence of human serum albumin (HSA): the protein exhibited a marked 200-fold binding preference for the carboxylate (K = 1.2 x 10(6) M-1) relative to the lactone (K approximately 5.5 x 10(3) M-1). Serum albumins from other species were found to bind camptothecin carboxylate not nearly as tightly as HSA. Due to the unique capacity of human albumin to bind camptothecin carboxylate, resulting in extensive conversion of the drug to its biologically inactive form, it appears that the success of the agent in eradicating cancer in animal models may be inherently more difficult to duplicate in man.

Topotecan, a semisynthetic water-soluble analogue of camptothecin, is the first topoisomerase I targeting anticancer agent to enter comparative phase III clinical trials. Here we elucidate the biophysical factors underlying the markedly improved bloodstream stability and cytotoxic activity of topotecan relative to camptothecin. Each agent contains an alpha-hydroxy-delta-lactone ring that hydrolyzes under physiological pH to yield a biologically-inactive carboxylate form. In human plasma, camptothecin lactone converts rapidly and completely to its carboxylate form due to a 200-fold binding preference by serum albumin (HSA) for the latter [Mi, Z., & Burke, T.G. (1994) Biochemistry 33, 10540-12545]. Time-resolved fluorescence anisotropy measurements reveal that neither topotecan lactone nor carboxylate associates with HSA, thereby resulting in a significantly higher level of lactone stability in plasma for topotecan (t1/2 = 23.1 min, percent lactone at equilibrium of 17.6) relative to camptothecin (t1/2 = 10.6 min, percent lactone at equilibrium of < 0.2). Moreover, studies with HL-60 human promyelocytic leukemia cells reveal that a physiologically-relevant level (40 mg/mL) of HSA dramatically attenuates the cytotoxic activity of camptothecin in excess of 2600-fold (for a 72 h exposure, the IC50 value of 1.5 nM in the absence of HSA increased to 4 microM in the presence of HSA). The activities of other clinically relevant anticancer analogues, 9-aminocamptothecin and SN-38, were also strongly modulated by the presence of 40 mg/mL HSA. In marked contrast, the presence of HSA effected no change on the cytotoxic activity of topotecan (IC50 = 12 nM both in the absence and in presence of HSA).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

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The anticancer drug topotecan was detected in human plasma and whole blood using two-photon excitation at 730 or 820 nm. These wavelengths are longer than the main absorption bands of hemoglobin. Two-photon excitation of topotecan was demonstrated by a quadratic dependence of the emission intensity on the incident power, compared to a linear dependence for one-photon excitation at 410 nm. The observed emission centered at 525 nm was shown to be topotecan from the similarity of the emission spectrum and decay times observed for one-photon and two-photon excitation. Topotecan was detected at concentrations as low as 0.05 and 1 microM in plasma and whole blood, respectively. Since skin blood and tissues are translucent at long wavelengths, these results suggest the possibility of homogeneous or noninvasive clinical sensing with two-photon excitation.