Erythrocyte Purine Nucleoside Phosphorylase Research Articles

Purine nucleoside phosphorylase and xanthine oxidase activities in erythrocytes and plasma from marine, semiaquatic and terrestrial mammals

Purine nucleoside phosphorylase (PNP) and xanthine oxidase (XO) are key enzymes involved in the purine salvage pathway. PNP metabolizes purine bases to synthetize purine nucleotides whereas XO catalyzes the oxidation of purines to uric acid. In humans, PNP activity is reported to be high in erythrocytes and XO activity to be low in plasma; however, XO activity increases after ischemic events. XO activity in plasma of northern elephant seals has been reported during prolonged fasting and rest and voluntary associated apneas. The objective of this study was to analyze circulating PNP and XO activities in marine mammals adapted to tolerate repeated cycles of ischemia/reperfusion associated with diving (bottlenose dolphin, northern elephant seal) in comparison with semiaquatic (river otter) and terrestrial mammals (human, pig). PNP activities in plasma and erythrocytes, as well as XO activity in plasma, from all species were quantified by spectrophotometry. No clear relationship in circulating PNP or XO activity could be established between marine, semiaquatic and terrestrial mammals. Erythrocytes from bottlenose dolphins and humans are highly permeable to nucleosides and glucose, intraerythrocyte PNP activity may be related to a release of purine nucleotides from the liver. High-energy costs will probably mean a higher ATP degradation rate in river otters, as compared to northern elephant seals or dolphins. Lower erythrocyte PNP activity and elevated plasma XO activity in northern elephant seal could be associated with fasting and/or sleep- and dive-associated apneas.

ChemInform Abstract: Certain 3,9-Dideazapurines as Inhibitors of Purine Nucleoside Phosphorylase.

Abstract The synthesis of four 3,9-dideazapurines is described. In order to achieve the desired substitution pattern, a new approach to the pyrrolo[2, 3-c]pyridine ring system was devised utilizing the Gassman reaction as the key step for its construction. The four target heterocycles were all evaluated for their ability to inhibit human erythrocytic purine nucleoside phosphorylase.

Uric Acid and Neuroprotection

To the Editor: Having arguably originated both sides and after long-equivocation over whether urate is physiologically primarily pro- or antioxidant, we finally declared in favor of a neuroprotective role in acute ischemic stroke.1 But, as Dawson et al2 note, this leaves unanswered the role of xanthine oxidase and the putative pro-oxidant role of urate in atherosclerosis, metabolic syndrome, and so forth.3–6 Perhaps treatment will ultimately involve both allopurinol and urate. Besides the work of Chamorro and others, our support for an acute neuroprotective role is based on new …

Synthesis and biological evaluation of 9-deazaguanine derivatives connected by a linker to difluoromethylene phosphonic acid as multi-substrate analogue inhibitors of PNP

9-(5′,5′-Difluoro-5′-phosphonopentyl)-9-deazaguanine ( DFPP-DG) was designed as a multi-substrate analogue inhibitor against purine nucleoside phosphorylase (PNP) on the basis of X-ray crystallographic data obtained for a binary complex of 9-(5′,5′-difluoro-5′-phosphonopentyl)guanine ( DFPP-G) with calf spleen PNP. DFPP-DG and its analogous compounds were adjusted by length of the linker achieved by the Sonogashira-coupling reaction between a 9-deaza-9-iodoguanine derivative and ω-alkynyldifluoromethylene phosphonates as a key reaction. DFPP-DG is a very potent PNP inhibitor with apparent inhibition constants (in the presence of 1 mM phosphate) of 4.4 and 8.1 nM versus calf spleen and human erythrocyte PNPs, respectively. One of its analogues, homo - DFPP- DG, with longer chain linking phosphonate and 9-deazaguanine is even more potent versus human enzyme, with an apparent inhibition constant of 5.3 nM (in the presence of 1 mM phosphate).

Purine-less Death in Plasmodium falciparumInduced by Immucillin-H, a Transition State Analogue of Purine Nucleoside Phosphorylase

Plasmodium falciparum is responsible for the majority of life-threatening cases of malaria. Plasmodia species cannot synthesize purines de novo, whereas mammalian cells obtain purines from de novo synthesis or by purine salvage. Hypoxanthine is proposed to be the major source of purines for P. falciparum growth. It is produced from inosine phosphorolysis by purine nucleoside phosphorylase (PNP). Immucillins are powerful transition state analogue inhibitors of mammalian PNP and also inhibit P. falciparum PNP as illustrated in the accompanying article (Kicska, G. A., Tyler, P. C., Evans, G. B., Furneaux, R. H., Kim, K., and Schramm, V. L. (2002) J. Biol. Chem. 277, 3219-3225). This work tests the hypothesis that erythrocyte and P. falciparum PNP are essential elements for growth and survival of the parasite in culture. Immucillin-H reduces the incorporation of inosine but not hypoxanthine into nucleic acids of P. falciparum and kills P. falciparum cultured in human erythrocytes with an IC(50) of 35 nm. Growth inhibition by Imm-H is reversed by the addition of hypoxanthine but not inosine, demonstrating the metabolic block at PNP. The concentration of Imm-H required for inhibition of parasite growth varies as a function of culture hematocrit, reflecting stoichiometric titration of human erythrocyte PNP by the inhibitor. Human and P. falciparum PNPs demonstrate different specificity for inhibition by immucillins, with the 2'-deoxy analogues showing marked preference for the human enzyme. The IC(50) values for immucillin analogue toxicity to P. falciparum cultures indicate that inhibition of PNP in both the erythrocytes and the parasite is necessary to induce a purine-less death.

Certain 3,9-Dideazapurines as Inhibitors of Purine Nucleoside Phosphorylase

The synthesis of four 3,9-dideazapurines is described. In order to achieve the desired substitution pattern, a new approach to the pyrrolo[2, 3-c]pyridine ring system was devised utilizing the Gassman reaction as the key step for its construction. The four target heterocycles were all evaluated for their ability to inhibit human erythrocytic purine nucleoside phosphorylase.

One-third-the-sites transition-state inhibitors for purine nucleoside phosphorylase.

Genetic defects in human purine nucleoside phosphorylase cause T-cell deficiency as the major phenotype. It has been proposed that efficient inhibitors of the enzyme might intervene in disorders of T-cell function. Compounds with features of the transition-state structure of purine nucleoside phosphorylase were synthesized and tested as inhibitors. The transition-state structure for purine nucleoside phosphorylase is characterized by (1) an elevated pKa at N7 of the purine ring for protonation or favorable H-bond interaction with the enzyme and (2) oxocarbenium ion formation in the ribosyl ring (Kline, P. C., and Schramm, V. L. (1995) Biochemistry 34, 1153-1162). Both features have been incorporated into the stable transition-state analogues, (1S)-1-(9-deazahypoxanthin-9-yl)-1,4-dideoxy-1,4-imino-D-ribitol (immucillin-H) and (1S)-1-(9-deazaguanin-9-yl)-1,4-dideoxy-1, 4-imino-D-ribitol (immucillin-G). Both inhibitors exhibit slow-onset tight-binding inhibition of calf spleen and human erythrocyte purine nucleoside phosphorylase. The inhibitors exhibit equilibrium dissociation constants (Ki) from 23 to 72 pM and are the most powerful inhibitors reported for the enzyme. Complete inhibition of the homotrimeric enzyme occurs at one mole of inhibitor per mole of enzymic trimer. Binding of the transition-state inhibitor at one site per trimer prevents inhibitor binding at the remaining two sites of the homotrimer. A mechanism of sequential catalysis at each subunit, similar to that of F1 ATPase, is supported by these results. Slow inhibitor dissociation (e.g., t1/2 of 4.8 h) suggests that these compounds will have favorable pharmacologic properties. Interaction of transition-state inhibitors with purine nucleoside phosphorylase is different from reactant-state (substrate and product analogue) inhibitors of the enzyme which bind equally to all subunits of the homotrimer.

1-Azaribofuranoside analogues as designed inhibitors of purine nucleoside phosphorylase. Synthesis and biological evaluation.

Pyrrolidine analogues of 2-deoxyribofuranose, having nitrogen in place of anomeric carbon, have been synthesised as potential transition state analogues of enzymatic nucleoside cleavage. Efficient synthetic methods were developed that allowed the synthesis of a wide range of 4-substituted 3-hydroxypyrrolidines starting from pyrroline and using opening of the pyrrolidine 3,4-epoxide, with carbon nucleophiles. Among the compounds synthesised were the 4-cyano- [(+/-)-16], 4-hydroxymethyl [(+/-)-22] and 4-carboxymethyl derivates [(+/-)-18]. From the hydroxymethyl derivative [(+/-)-22] N-alkylation with chloromethyluracil gave an inosine analogue [(+/-)-23]. The new compounds were tested for inhibition of human erythrocyte purine nucleoside phosphorylase. Compound (+/-)-22 was found to show non-competitive inhibition of the enzyme with a Ki of 160 microM. This suggested that (+/-)-22 binds to the ribofuranose portion of the active site. Furthermore, a solid-phase synthesis of 1'-azanucleoside analogues was developed.

Design of an adenosine phosphorylase (AP) by active site modification of purine nucleoside phosphorylase (PNP)

The C(8) and C(5') positions of base and nucleoside substrates of human erythrocytic purine nucleoside phosphorylase (PNP) are promising sites for the development of an inhibitor of this enzyme. The substrate analog, 8-aminoguanine (8-AG), has the lowest dissociation constant (Ki = 0.2–1.2 μM) of any compound reported to date and Vmax = 16 per cent (relative to guanine). Other C(8) substituents decreased the affinity for PNP and, with the exception of the methyl and sulfhydryl groups, abolished substrate activity. Halogens or a thiomethyl group at C(5') of inosine resulted in unchanged or improved affinities (Ki = 10–30 μM) and greatly decreased substrate activity (Vmax < 1 per cent relative to inosine). The Ki of formycin B was reduced from 100 μM to 10 μM or less by substitution of a halogen at C(5'). Phosphorolysis of purine nucleosides was inhibited significantly by 8-AG in intact human erythrocytes and murine Sarcoma 180, L1210 and L5178Y cells. Although a Ki value of 17 μM was determined for 8-aminoguanosine, it was equally effective in inhibiting PNP activity in intact cells. The nucleoside was cleaved to 8-AG which was not a substrate for guanase or hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase. Despite its low substrate activity (Vmax < 0.2%). 5′-deoxy-5′-iodoinosine was cleaved by intact L1210 and L5178Y cells.

[(Guaninylalkyl)phosphinico]methyl]phosphonic acids. Multisubstrate analogue inhibitors of human erythrocyte purine nucleoside phosphorylase.

A series of [[(guaninylalkyl)phosphinico]methyl]phosphonic acids, 2, was synthesized and tested as inhibitors of human erythrocyte purine nucleoside phosphorylase (PNPase). The target (phosphinicomethyl)phosphonic acids 2 were synthesized in six or seven steps from alkenylphosphonates 4. The latter were converted to the intermediate alkylmesylates 9 in a series of steps that included (1) conversion of the diethyl phosphonates 4 to the (phosphinoylmethyl)-phosphonates 7 and (2) conversion of the terminal double bond of [(alkenylphosphinoyl)methyl]-phosphonates 7 to the alkylmesylates 9. The pure 9-isomers 2 were obtained by alkylation of 2-amino-6-(2-methoxyethoxy)-9H-purine with alkylmesylates 9 followed by hydrolysis of the protecting groups with concentrated hydrochloric acid and ion exchange chromatography to give 2 as hydrated ammonium salts. The most potent inhibitor of human erythrocyte PNPase, [[[5-(2-amino-1,6-dihydro-6-oxo-9H-purin-9- yl)pentyl]phosphinico]methyl]phosphonic acid (2b), was a multisubstrate analogue inhibitor with a Ki' of 3.1 nM. Optimum PNPase inhibitory activity required the presence of zinc ions in the assay medium. These potent inhibitors of PNPase exhibited only weak activity against human leukemic T-cells in vitro.

Development of an Assay Method for Purine Catabolic Enzymes in the Mouse and Its Adaptation for Use on an Autoanalyzer

An assay method has been developed for the purine catabolic enzymes adenosylhomocysteinase, adenosine deaminase (ADA), purine-nucleoside phosphorylase (PNP), and urate oxidase in mice. The assay links H2O2 produced during purine catabolism to the production of a dye complex. The assay method has been developed for ADA and PNP in erythrocytes and for all four enzymes in liver. The assay is cheap, sensitive, and easy to perform. The dye complex absorbs in the visible range, negating the need for an expensive ultraviolet spectrophotometer and allowing the use of an autoanalyzer.

Potentiating effect of {2-[2-[(2-amino-1,6-dihydro-6-oxo-9h-purin-9-yl)methyl]-phenyl]ethenyl}-phosphoric acid (MDL 74,428), a potent inhibitor of purine nucleoside phosphorylase, on the antiretro viral activities of 2′,3′-dideoxyinosine combined to ribavirin in mice

2′,3′ dideoxyinosine (ddI) has potent activity against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) but is rapidly metabolized by erythrocytic purine nucleoside phosphorylase (PNP), and therefore has a very short plasma half-life in rodents, monkeys and in patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. It is now reported that 100 μM if2-[2-[(2-amino-l,6-dihydro-6-oxo-9H-purin-9-yl)methyl]-phenyl]ethenyl-phosphonic acid (MDL 74,428), a very potent inhibitor of PNP blocks the intracellular phosphorolysis of ddI in cultured human red blood cells, in T leukemic CEM lymphoblasts and prolongs ddl plasma effective concentration in mice at a dose of 250 mg/kg body weight given i.p. In MDL 74,428-treated CEM cells, despite marked reduction of ddI catabolism, neither further accumulation of ddATP, the active antiviral metabolite of ddI, nor potentiation of the activity of ddI against HIV cytopathogenicity is observed. MDL 74,428 does not also affect the inhibitory effect of ddI combined with ribavirin on the transformation in vitro of C3H/3T3 cells by Moloney murine sarcoma virus (MSV). In mice, on the contrary, MDL 74,428 (200 mg/kg body weight, i.p.) is effective at potentiating the effect of ribavirin used either alone, or combined with ddI on MSV-induced tumour formation and associated mortality. However, in the absence of ribavirin, co-administration of MDL 74,428 with ddI affords, no chemotherapeutic advantage.

X-Ray Crystallographic and Kinetic Analysis of Human Purine Nucleoside Phosphorylase Complexes with 1-β-D-Ribofuranosyl-1,2,4-triazole-3-carobxamide and 1-β-D-Ribofuranosyl-1,2,4-triazole-3-carboxamidine

Abstract The three-dimensional structures of the complexes between human erythrocytic purine nucleoside phosphorylase (PNP) and both 1-β-D-ribofuranosyl-1,2,4-triazole-3-carboxamide (ribavirin) and 1-β-D-ribofuranosyl-1,2,4-triazole-3-carboxamidine (TCNR) have been determined using X-ray crystallographic techniques. The structures have been refined at 2.9 A resolution using simulated annealing and conjugate-gradient minimization techniques to an R value of 21.8% for ribavirin and 20.8% for TCNR. Ribavirin and TCNR are truncated nucleosides corresponding to adenosine and inosine, respectively, and are of potential interest as PNP inhibitors. Kinetic parameters have been determined for recombinant wild-type PNP and for a mutant PNP in which Asn 243 is converted to Asp. The Ki value for ribavirin is 4.9 mM with wild-type PNP and 4.7 mM with the Asn243Asp mutant, while the Ki values for TCNR are 17.6 μM and 3.8 μM with wild-type and mutant, respectively. X-ray crystallographic studies showed that the binding ...

9-[(Phosphonoalkyl)benzyl]guanines. Multisubstrate analogue inhibitors of human erythrocyte purine nucleoside phosphorylase.

A series of 9-[(phosphonoalkyl)benzyl]guanines was synthesized and tested for inhibition of human erythrocyte purine nucleoside phosphorylase (PNPase). Inhibitors of PNPase should be T-cell selective, immunosuppressive agents with potential clinical utility in the treatment of a wide variety of disorders in which T-lymphocytes are pathogenic. An initial set of six analogues of the weak PNPase inhibitor 9-benzylguanine (2) contained a phosphonic acid group linked to the ortho, meta, or para position of the aryl moiety via two- or three-atom spacers. These compounds allowed us to probe for a favorable interaction with the phosphate-binding domain. Several additional meta phosphonoalkyl substituents were examined in an effort to optimize the spacer. The two most potent compounds, [[3-[(2-amino-1,6-dihydro-6-oxo-9H-purin-9-yl)methyl] benzyl]oxy]-methylphosphonic acid (3f) and [[3-[(2-amino-1,6-dihydro-6-oxo-9H-purin-9-methyl)methyl] benzyl]-thio]methylphosphonic acid (3j), were inhibitors of PNPase with Ki's of 5.8 and 1.1 nM, respectively. These inhibitors displayed competitive kinetics with respect to inosine and inorganic phosphate, which showed that these compounds possess binding determinants for both the purine- and phosphate-binding domains of the enzyme, characteristics that are consistent with 3f and 3j being multisubstrate analogue inhibitors of PNPase. The potency of 9-benzylguanine (2) was enhanced more than 6000-fold by linking a phosphonic acid residue with a (methylthio)methyl spacer to the meta position of 2 to give 3j, which illustrates the potent enzyme inhibitory properties available to multisubstrate analogue inhibitors.

Nucleosides. 5. Synthesis of guanine and formycin B derivatives as potential inhibitors of purine nucleoside phosphorylase.

In an effort to develop potent human purine nucleoside phosphorylase (PNP) inhibitors as immunosuppressive and chemotherapeutic agents, several 8-aminoguanine derivatives were synthesized and evaluated as potential PNP inhibitors. These studies were designed to investigate the hydrophobic effect of a substituent on the N-9 of the purine heterocycle and/or the C-5' positions. Compounds such as 8-aminoguanosine, guanosine, formycin B, and 8-aminoacyclovir containing a p-(fluorosulfonyl)benzoyl moiety were synthesized. The affinity of these compounds to erythrocytic PNP was determined and none of these compounds showed a better affinity than those of the parent compounds. However, we found that the effect of hydrophobicity at the N-9 and the C-5' positions might play an important role in binding to the active site of PNP. Thus, 8-amino-5'-deoxy-5'-(phenylthio)guanosine (19) was found to be the best inhibitor in this series of compounds with a Ki = 0.45 microM.

Stability of Carbovir, a Potent Inhibitor of HIV, to Phosphorolysis by Human Purine Nucleoside Phosphorylase

Carbovir, a carbocyclic guanosine analogue, is a selective and potent inhibitor of HIV-1 in vitro. The (-)enantiomer of carbovir has been shown, by spectrophotometric and high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis, to be stable to phosphorolytic cleavage by purified human erythrocytic purine nucleoside Phosphorylase. Thus depurination, and the salvage reaction via hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyl transferase, would be unlikely to be involved in the metabolism of carbovir. Inhibition of purine nucleoside Phosphorylase interferes with T-lymphocytic function and would be an undesirable activity for any potential antiviral agent. The present study also showed that carbovir, at concentrations up to 300 μM, did not inhibit purine nucleoside Phosphorylase.

Rational design of quinazoline-based irreversible inhibitors of human erythrocyte purine nucleoside phosphorylase

Described herein is the rational design of irreversible inhibitors of human erythrocyte purine nucleoside phosphorylase (PNPase). Inhibitor design started with the observation that the amino group of 8-aminoquinazolin-4(3H)-one interacts with enzyme-bound phosphate. This observation correctly predicted that the 5,8-dione (quinone) and 5,8-dihydroxy (hydroquinone) derivatives of quinazolin-4(3H)-ones would enter the active site. The amine-phosphate interaction also served to confirm that a quinazolin-4(3H)-one binds in the PNPase active sites like a purine substrate. From models of the PNPase active site it was possible to design quinazoline-based quinones that undergo a reductive-addition reaction with an active-site glutamate residue. The best inhibitor studied, 2-(chloromethyl)quinazoline-4,5,8(3H)-trione, rapidly inactivates PNPase by a first-order process with an inhibitor to enzyme stoichiometry of 150. The active-site hydroquinone adduct of this inhibitor eliminates a leaving group to afford a quinone methide species positioned to alkylate another active-site glutamate residue. Thus, this inhibitor is designed to cross-link the PNPase active site by reductive addition followed by the generation of an alkylating quinone methide species.

Three-dimensional structure of human erythrocytic purine nucleoside phosphorylase at 3.2 A resolution.

The three-dimensional structure of human erythrocytic purine nucleoside phosphorylase has been determined at 3.2 A resolution using x-ray diffraction data. Intensity data were measured using radiation from the Synchrotron Radiation Source, Daresbury, England, and oscillation film techniques. Phases were determined by using multiple isomorphous replacement methods with four heavy-atom derivatives and were improved using solvent flattening techniques. Purine nucleoside phosphorylase exists in the crystal as a trimer in which subunits are related by a crystallographic 3-fold axis. Each subunit contains an eight-stranded mixed beta-sheet and a five-stranded mixed beta-sheet which join to form a distorted beta-barrel structure. This core beta-structure is flanked by seven alpha-helices in a manner that generates a novel folding pattern. The active site, which was characterized from binding of the substrate analogs 8-iodoguanine and 5'-iodoformycin B, is located near the subunit-subunit boundary within the trimer and involves seven different segments from one subunit and an additional short segment from an adjacent subunit. In the crystal, the phosphate-binding site is probably occupied by a sulfate ion. The specificity of purine nucleoside phosphorylase for guanine, hypoxanthine, and their analogs can be explained on the basis of the arrangement of hydrogen bond donors and acceptors in the active site.

Purine nucleoside phosphorylase in erythrocytes: Determination of optimum reaction conditions

Reaction conditions for determining the activity of purine nucleoside phosphorylase (PNP; E.C. 2.4.2.1) were investigated. We examined the kinetic parameters for the enzymatic reaction with respect to the substrates inosine and phosphate. We confirmed the pH optimum, established the optimal concentration of xanthine oxidase and that of calcium and magnesium. The Km values for inosine and phosphate were found to be 60 uM and 667 uM, respectively. Optimum assay conditions for PNP activity were established. This optimized method has been compared with other procedures and found to be more sensitive and to yield significantly higher activities. The experimental variation of a manual procedure using these optimum reaction conditions was less than 4.5%. The mean erythrocyte PNP activity of 28 healthy subjects was estimated to be 9.71 U/mL packed cells at 25 degrees C and 18.60 U/mL packed cells at 37 degrees C.

Inhibition of Purine Nucleoside Phosphorylase by Phosphonoalkylpurines 1

Abstract Optimum inhibition of human erythrocyte purine nucleoside phosphorylase by 9-(phosphonoalkyl)hypoxanthines required an alkyl chain of five carbons or longer. Appropriate modifications of either the base or phosphonate side chain resulted in increased inhibitory activity.