4'-Ethynyl nucleoside analogs: potent inhibitors of multidrug-resistant human immunodeficiency virus variants in vitro.

A series of 4'-ethynyl (4'-E) nucleoside analogs were designed, synthesized, and identified as being active against a wide spectrum of human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV), including a variety of laboratory strains of HIV-1, HIV-2, and primary clinical HIV-1 isolates. Among such analogs examined, 4'-E-2'-deoxycytidine (4'-E-dC), 4'-E-2'-deoxyadenosine (4'-E-dA), 4'-E-2'-deoxyribofuranosyl-2,6-diaminopurine, and 4'-E-2'-deoxyguanosine were the most potent and blocked HIV-1 replication with 50% effective concentrations ranging from 0.0003 to 0.01 microM in vitro with favorable cellular toxicity profiles (selectivity indices ranging 458 to 2,600). These 4'-E analogs also suppressed replication of various drug-resistant HIV-1 clones, including HIV-1(M41L/T215Y), HIV-1(K65R), HIV-1(L74V), HIV-1(M41L/T69S-S-G/T215Y), and HIV-1(A62V/V75I/F77L/F116Y/Q151M). Moreover, these analogs inhibited the replication of multidrug-resistant clinical HIV-1 strains carrying a variety of drug resistance-related amino acid substitutions isolated from HIV-1-infected individuals for whom 10 or 11 different anti-HIV-1 agents had failed. The 4'-E analogs also blocked the replication of a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor-resistant clone, HIV-1(Y181C), and showed an HIV-1 inhibition profile similar to that of zidovudine in time-of-drug-addition assays. The antiviral activity of 4'-E-thymidine and 4'-E-dC was blocked by the addition of thymidine and 2'-deoxycytidine, respectively, while that of 4'-E-dA was not affected by 2'-deoxyadenosine, similar to the antiviral activity reversion feature of 2',3'-dideoxynucleosides, strongly suggesting that 4'-E analogs belong to the family of nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors. Further development of 4'-E analogs as potential therapeutics for infection with multidrug-resistant HIV-1 is warranted.

On the mechanism of deoxyribonucleoside toxicity in human T-lymphoblastoid cells. Reversal of growth inhibition by addition of cytidine.

High levels of deoxyadenosine and deoxyguanosine in patients with inherited deficiency of either adenosine deaminase or purine-nucleoside phosphorylase, respectively, are considered to be responsible for the associated immunological disorder. The mechanism involves phosphorylation to the corresponding deoxyribonucleoside triphosphates which subsequently inhibit the CDP-reducing activity of ribonucleotide reductase. Addition of deoxycytidine protects cells from the cytotoxic effects of deoxyadenosine and deoxyguanosine by competition for phosphorylation and by replenishing dCTP, the apparent limiting DNA precursor. Addition of cytidine, but not uridine, led to a reversal of deoxyguanosine and thymidine growth inhibition, comparable to that obtained with deoxycytidine. Analysis of the intracellular nucleotide pools showed that increased levels of cytidine ribonucleotides were sufficient to overcome the inhibitory effects of dGTP and dTTP on CDP reduction, thereby circumventing a depletion of the dCTP pool. A partial reversal of deoxyadenosine toxicity was also obtained with addition of cytidine. In this case little change in the dCTP level was observed, but a decreased dGTP pool appeared to be correlated with growth inhibition. High cytidine ribonucleotide levels partially prevented this effect. The present results may encourage the use of cytidine in combination with deoxycytidine as a pharmacological regime in treatment of immunodeficiency disease associated with increased deoxyribonucleotide levels.

[Inhibition of various stages of DNA replication in sea urchin embryos]. / Ingibirovanie otdel'nykh stadii protsessa replikatsii DNK émbrionov morskikh ezhei.

The embryos of the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus intermedius possess the ability to incorporate into their DNAs 2'-deoxynucleosides together with all their bases, i.e., adenine, guanine, cytosine and thymine. This incorporation is inhibited by 3'-amino-2',3'-dideoxynucleosides with the same bases. 5'-Amino-5'-deoxynucleosides and 5'-amino-2',5'-dideoxynucleosides moderately inhibit the incorporation of [3H]2'-deoxynucleosides into the DNAs by competing with the latter, presumably at the phosphorylation stage. The most potent inhibiting effect is exerted by 2'-amino-2'-deoxynucleosides and 2'-asido-2'-deoxynucleosides; the mechanism of this inhibition is still obscure, however.

Synthesis and biological activities of 5-(hydroxymethyl, azidomethyl, or aminomethyl)-2'-deoxyuridine and related 5'-substituted analogues.

The synthesis of 5-(azidomethyl)-2'-deoxyuridine (10) has been accomplished by two independent methods. The first involved tosylation of 5-(hydroxymethyl)-2'-deoxyuridine (1) to furnish a mixture of two mono- and a ditosyl nucleosides which were converted into the corresponding 5-(azidomethyl) (10), 5-(azidomethyl)-5'-azido (14), and 5-(hydroxymethyl)-5'-azido (15) derivatives of 2'-deoxyuridine. The second method was more selective and required the formation of the intermediate 5-(bromomethyl)-3',5'-di-O-acetyl-2'-deoxyuridine (8), followed by displacement of the bromo group by lithium azide and deacetylation. Catalytic hydrogenation of the azides 9, 10, 14, and 15 gave the corresponding amines 16, 2, 6, and 7, respectively. Compounds 1, 2, 10, and 16 inhibited the growth of murine Sarcoma 180 and L1210 in culture, and the activity of 2 was prevented by 2'-deoxypyrimidine nucleosides but not by purine nucleosides. The replication of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) was strongly inhibited only by 1 and 10. Studies on the binding of the various thymidine analogues to HSV-1 encoded pyrimidine deoxyribonucleoside kinase indicate that 1 and 10 have good affinity for the enzyme.