Inhibition of salvage synthesis of nucleic acid by adenosine 3',5'-cyclic decylphosphoramidate in mastocytoma P-815 cells.

Constant exposure of mastocytoma P-815 cells to adenosine 3',5'-cyclic decylphosphoramidate (1), which is permeable to the cell membrane and resistant to the action of phosphodiesterase, caused a dose-dependent (1 to 50 microM) inhibition in the synthesis of DNA and cell proliferation. Pretreating the cells with compound 1 (20 microM, 4 h) caused considerable inhibition of the incorporation of [3H]thymidine ([3H]TdR) into [3H]deoxythymidine 5'-triphosphate ([3H]dTTP) and that of [14C]hypoxanthine into nucleic acid, but not the synthesis of [14C]dTTP from [U-14C]aspartate. These results indicate that compound 1 preferentially inhibits the salvage synthesis of intracellular nucleotides and nucleic acids. Thymidine kinase, a key enzyme in salvage synthesis of nucleotides, was almost undetectable in cells pretreated with compound 1 at 20 microM for 4 h or at 5 microM for 15 h. On the other hand, compound 1 activated partially purified cAMP-dependent protein kinase A from bovine heart. Judging from these observations, it is likely that compound 1 readily permeates the cell membrane, activates cAMP-dependent protein kinase, then inhibits the salvage synthesis of nucleotides and nucleic acids by inhibiting thymidine kinase, which results in the inhibition of cell growth.