Vol. 301, Issue 1, 77-86, April 2002

Novel Glutathione-Dependent Thiopurine Prodrugs: Evidence for Enhanced Cytotoxicity in Tumor Cells and for Decreased Bone Marrow Toxicity in Mice

Sjofn Gunnarsdottir , Marian Rucki and Adnan A. Elfarra

Environmental Toxicology Center (S.G., A.A.E.) and Department of Comparative Biosciences (S.G., M.R., A.A.E.), University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin

Elevated glutathione (GSH) levels have been detected in many tumors compared with the healthy, surrounding tissue. Often, this GSH up-regulation is associated with drug resistance. The prodrugs 6-(2-acetylvinylthio)guanine (AVTG) and 6-(2-acetylvinylthio)purine (AVTP) contain a novel butenone moiety that allows the prodrugs to react selectively with sulfhydryl nucleophiles to release the chemotherapeutic drug 6-thioguanine (6-TG) or 6-mercaptopurine (6-MP), respectively. The cellular uptake and metabolism of trans-AVTG in two human renal carcinoma cell lines that were used as models were rapid and associated with depletion of intracellular GSH. Formation of 6-TG from trans-AVTG correlated positively with intracellular GSH concentrations, and was significantly reduced by diethyl maleate pretreatment. Intracellular concentrations of 6-TG after incubations with trans-AVTG were significantly higher than the 6-TG concentrations obtained after incubations with equimolar concentrations of 6-TG; thus, the prodrug delivered more 6-TG to the cell than did 6-TG itself. Cytotoxicity studies demonstrated that AVTG and AVTP had similar IC₅₀ values that were comparable with those of 6-TG, but were significantly lower than those of 6-MP. Furthermore, after in vivo treatment of mice with the prodrugs, no reduction was observed in circulating white blood cell counts, whereas white blood cell counts of mice treated with equimolar or 60% lower doses of 6-TG were reduced by 50 to 60%. Collectively, the results show that AVTG and AVTP are novel potential chemotherapeutic agents that may target tumors with up-regulated levels of GSH, and may exhibit less systemic toxicity than the parent thiopurines.