Metabolism and action of neplanocin A in Chinese hamster ovary cells

Neplanocin A is a naturally occurring carbocyclic analog of adenosine which contains a cyclopentene moiety in place of ribose and has demonstrated antitumor and antimicrobial activity. This compound was highly toxic to Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells; the approximate minimum inhibitory concentration of neplanocin A for inhibition of clone formation was 0.1 microM. The toxicity of the agent was greatly reduced by prior treatment with adenosine deaminase. [3H]Uridine incorporation into perchloric acid insoluble material in growing cells was inhibited by neplanocin A more dramatically than that of [3H]thymidine or [3H]leucine. Treatment with the drug resulted in a marked depression of ATP pool levels. High pressure liquid chromatographic analysis of cellular nucleotide pools from cells treated with neplanocin A revealed the formation of an apparent drug metabolite (NpcTP) that eluted in the triphosphate region of the chromatographic profile. Treatment of NpcTP with alkaline phosphatase produced a nucleoside with properties similar to neplanocin A. An adenosine-kinase-deficient cell line formed little, if any, NpcTP but demonstrated only slight resistance to the agent. These observations suggest that neplanocin A was efficiently metabolized to the triphosphate level but that this metabolite was responsible for only a fraction of the observed toxicity.