Vol. 59, Issue 4, 725-731, April 2001

2'-C-Cyano-2'-deoxy-1--D-arabino-pentofuranosylcytosine: A Novel Anticancer Nucleoside Analog that Causes Both DNA Strand Breaks and G₂ Arrest

Atsushi Azuma, Peng Huang, Akira Matsuda, and William Plunkett

Department of Experimental Therapeutics, The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas (A.A., P.H., W.P.); and Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan (A.M.)

The mechanism of 2'-C-cyano-2'-deoxy-1--D-arabino-pentofuranosylcytosine (CNDAC) action was investigated in human lymphoblastoid CEM cells and myeloblastic leukemia ML-1 cells. CNDAC was metabolized to its 5'-triphosphate and incorporated into DNA, which was associated with inhibition of DNA synthesis. After incubation of cells with [³H]CNDAC, metabolites were detected in 3'5' phosphodiester linkage and at the 3' terminus of cellular DNA. Specific enzymatic hydrolysis of DNA demonstrated that the parent nucleoside and its 2'-epimer 2'-C-cyano-2'-deoxy-2-ribo-pentofuranosylcytosine accounted for approximately 65% of the total analogs incorporated into DNA and essentially all of the drug in the 3'5' phosphodiester linkage. In contrast, all detectable radioactivity at 3' termini was associated with 2'-C-cyano-2',3'-didehydro-2',3'-dideoxycytidine. This de facto DNA chain-terminating nucleotide arises from an electronic characteristic and cleavage of the 3'-phosphodiester bond subsequent to the addition of a nucleotide to the incorporated CNDAC moiety by -elimination, a process that generates a single strand break in DNA. Investigation of the biological consequences of these actions indicated that, after incubation with cytostatic concentrations of CNDAC, cell cycle progression was delayed during S phase, but that cells arrested predominantly in the G₂ phase. This differed from the S phase-arresting actions of ara-C and gemcitabine, other deoxycytidine analogs that inhibit DNA replication but do not cause strand breaks. Thus, once incorporated into DNA, the CNDAC molecule appears to act by a dual mechanism that 1) delays the progress of further DNA replication, but 2) upon addition of a deoxynucleotide results in the conversion of the incorporated analog to a de facto DNA chain terminator at the 3' terminus of a single strand break. It is likely that DNA strand breaks trigger cell cycle arrest in G₂.