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The imidazoacridinone derivative, C-1311, is a new antitumour agent that exhibits strong antitumour activity against experimental colorectal cancer and has been selected for entry into clinical trial. The compound has previously been shown to have DNA non-covalent binding properties in vitro and to bind irreversibly to DNA of tumour cells. The latter effect has also been observed in a cell-free system, but only in the presence of activated enzymes. The present studies were aimed at finding out whether and in what way the enzymatic activation of C-1311 and its non-covalent binding to DNA influence or depend on each other. Enzymatic activation was performed with a model system containing horseradish peroxidase (HRP) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and was followed by UV-VIS spectroscopy and by HPLC with UV-VIS and electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry detection. DNA non-covalent binding was studied in the cell-free system by means of an unwinding assay and UV-VIS spectroscopy. It was shown that C-1311 was oxidised by the HRP/H2O2 system in a manner dependent on the drug:H2O2 ratio. In the case of ratios of 1:3 and 1:5, the reaction gave highly reactive species that were quickly transformed into the further products p2 and p3 that were unable to intercalate into DNA. In the presence of DNA, C-1311 first intercalated into DNA and the intercalated compound was then oxidised. This oxidation was directed to only one product. Therefore, DNA seems to play the role of a "scavenger" of the reactive oxidation product(s) yielded from the intercalated drug and prevents its further deactivation. We conclude that, under the conditions studied, intercalation of C-1311 into DNA is followed by its HRP-mediated activation, giving rise to the intercalated species that might irreversibly bind to DNA. Since peroxidase-type enzymes are present in the cell nucleus, the proposed sequence of events may also be expected to take place in the cellular environment in vivo.

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Bleomycin (BLM), a well-known DNA scission agent, is assumed to inhibit intracellular DNA replication by damaging the DNA template (cis-acting mechanism), although other DNA damaging compounds can alter DNA replication through modulation of crucial replication factor(s) (trans-acting mechanism). The present study examines the relationship between DNA damage and inhibition of replication caused by BLM in the well-defined simian virus 40 (SV40) intracellular and cell-free in vitro systems. Treatment of SV40-infected BSC-1 cells for 2 h with BLM at 50 microg/mL, induced 0.3 break/viral genome. Under the same treatment conditions, analysis of replication intermediates on two-dimensional gels showed a decrease in both mass of SV40 replication intermediates and replication activity. The mass of SV40 intermediates was decreased to about 30%, whereas replication activity was reduced to less than 5%. These results suggest that BLM inhibits both initiation and elongation phases of SV40 replication. In a cell-free DNA replication system, extracts from BLM-treated cells (50 micro/mL) were able to support SV40 DNA replication by only 50%. In this study, non-drug-treated DNA template was used, implying that BLM can induce a trans-acting effect. Finally, the drug-induced effects on SV40 DNA replication in cell-free and intracellular viral systems were compared to the effects on genomic DNA replication in BSC-1 cells. Overall, the results support the concept that BLM-induced inhibition of DNA replication occurs by both trans- (inhibition of replication of nondamaged template) and cis-acting mechanisms (template damage).

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A study on quantitative relationships between the biological activity and physicochemical properties of antitumour 5-alkylaminoimidazoacridinone derivatives was carried out. The activity was based on the results of several in vitro tests as well as experimental antileukaemic therapy. The capacity factor, log k', determined by the reverse-phase HPLC method, was a measure of lipophilic properties. UV and NMR spectra of the compounds were employed to describe electronic parameters. Values of steric descriptors were calculated as topological indexes. Results obtained by means of principal component analysis (PCA) allow us to group biological tests into two subsets: the lipophilicity-dependent and lipophilicity-independent test groups. The highest intercorrelation, R = 0.92, was shown between the optimal dose, pOD, determined in leukaemia P388-bearing mice and cytotoxicity expressed as pEC50 in leukaemia cells. The equation describing this relationship could be applied to predict the therapeutic doses of imidazoacridinone derivatives which would be effective in experimental antileukaemic therapy. The quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) study showed that lipophilic properties significantly influence cytotoxicity, pEC50, and antileukaemic potency, pOD, only in the case of 8-hydroxy analogues of imidazoacridinones, whereas the activity of the remaining derivatives is very low and does not depend on lipophilicity. Electronic resonance properties seem to influence this specific impact of lipophilicity on the biological activity of 8-hydroxy derivatives. Hence, it may be possible to improve the antitumour activity of 8-hydroxyimidazoacridinones by obtaining more hydrophilic derivatives, up to the optimal value of the lipophilic parameter.

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Self-association and formation of micellar solutions of cloxacillin sodium salt (CLO-Na) dissolved in heavy water have been investigated by NMR-spectroscopy. Concentration and temperature dependence of proton and carbon chemical shifts of cloxacillin-Na in D2O is presented and certain 1H and 13C NMR line assignments have been substantiated.

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In vitro and in vivo proton T1 data are reported that demonstrate that the paramagnetic copper-D-penicillamine complex can be applied as a potential contrast agent to magnetic resonance imaging.

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