Comparison of the inhibitory effects of hydroxyurea, 5-fluorodeoxyuridine, 3,4-dihydroxybenzylamine, and methotrexate on human squamous cell carcinoma.

A cell line (SCC-25) derived from a human squamous cell carcinoma was found to have a higher level of in situ thymidylate synthase activity when compared to a faster-growing cell line, L1210 leukemia, and approximately 5 times the level of activity of a cell line with the same growth rate, S91-A melanoma. These results led to an examination of the effects of both direct and indirect inhibitors of this enzyme using intact SCC-25 cells. It was found that drugs that have an indirect effect on this enzyme--methotrexate (MTX), hydroxyurea (HU), and 3,4-dihydroxybenzylamine (3,4-DHBA)--acted as noncompetitive inhibitors and the inhibition of thymidylate synthase by these drugs did not result in the accumulation of its substrate, dUMP. This suggested that these drugs are also inhibiting steps leading to the formation of dUMP by a mechanism that is coordinated with the inhibition of thymidylate synthase. 5-Fluorodeoxyuridine (FUDR), a competitive inhibitor of thymidylate synthase, did cause an increase in the dUMP pool size indicating that this drug did not affect the synthesis of this substrate. There was a good correlation for the inhibition of growth, DNA synthesis, and thymidylate synthase with HU, 3,4-DHBA, and FUDR. However, the results suggested fundamentally different mechanistic reasons for the close relationship among these three inhibitory effects. Finally the inhibition of growth by MTX did not appear to correlate with the inhibition of DNA synthesis. The implication of these results for the therapy of epidermally derived proliferative disorders, especially with combinations such as MTX and 5-FU, is discussed.