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Nuclear DNA is the cellular target for many cancer treatments, and DNA-directed chemotherapies continue to play an important role in drug discovery in the postgenomic era. The majority of DNA-targeted anticancer agents bind through covalent interactions, non-covalent intercalation or groove binding, or hybrid binding modes. The sequence and regiospecificity of these interactions and the resulting structural alterations within the biopolymer play an important role in the mechanism of action of these drugs. DNA-binding proteins and/or DNA-processing enzymes, which also interact with DNA in a sequence- and groove-specific manner, are mediators of the cytotoxic effect produced by these agents. Thus one major goal in the design of new clinical agents of this type is to produce new types of adducts on DNA, which may lead to unprecedented cell kill mechanisms. Platinum-intercalator conjugates are such a class of hybrid agents acting through a dual DNA binding mode. The platinum center (usually a cis-diaminedichloroPt(II) unit) dominates the DNA adduct profiles in the majority of these species-the result of the metal's tendency to form cross-links in runs of consecutive guanine bases in the major groove of DNA. This paradigm has been broken recently for the first time with the design of cytotoxic platinum-acridinylthiourea conjugates, a class of adenine-affinic minor-groove directed agents. This review summarizes major advancements in the chemistry and biology of platinum-intercalators from 1984 to 2004, with emphasis being placed on the interplay between chemical structure, mechanism of DNA binding, and biological properties.

The synthesis, cytotoxicity, and nucleoside binding of some platinum-acridinylthiourea conjugates derived from the prototypical compound [PtCl(en)(ACRAMTU)](NO3)2 ("PT-ACRAMTU"; en=ethane-1,2-diamine, ACRAMTU=1-[2-(acridin-9-ylamino)ethyl]-1,3-dimethylthiourea, protonated form) are reported. To establish structure-activity relationships within this class of compounds, systematic changes were made to the thiourea nonleaving group, which links the intercalator to platinum. Three new derivatives of ACRAMTU, one di-, one tri-, and one tetraalkylated, were generated, where the degree of alkylation indicates the number of alkyl groups attached to the SCN2 framework. Subsequent reaction of the tri- and tetraalkylated derivatives with activated [PtCl2(en)] yielded the corresponding platinum conjugates. The dialkylated thiourea gave an unstable complex, which was not included in the studies. The crystal structure of PT-ACRAMTU x MeOH has been determined. In the solid state, one axial position of the square-planar platinum coordination sphere is partially shielded by the bulky thiourea group, providing a strong rationale for the kinetic inertness of the compound. The cytotoxicity of the prototype, the two new conjugates, and cisplatin was assessed in ovarian (A2780, A2780/CP), lung (NCI-H460), and colon (RKO) cancer cell lines using clonogenic survival assays. The derivatives containing trialkylated thiourea groups showed activity similar or superior to cisplatin, with IC50 values in the low micromolar concentration range. The complex modified with the tetraalkylated (bulkiest) thiourea was significantly less active, possibly due to the greatly decreased rate of binding to nucleobase nitrogen (1H NMR spectroscopy), but was most efficient at overcoming cross resistance to cisplatin in A2780/CP. Possible consequences of the reported structural modifications for the mechanism of action of these agents are discussed.

Cerebral vasospasm (CV) following subarachnoid hemorrhagic stroke affects more than one million people each year. The etiology and prevention of CV is currently of great interest to researchers in various fields of medical science. More recently, the idea that selenium could be playing a major role in the onset of cerebral vasospasm has come into the spotlight. This study focused on using newly established metallomics techniques in order to explore the proteome associated with CV and if selenium might affect the discovered proteins. Size exclusion chromatography coupled to inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, along with LC-MALDI-TOF/TOF were both essential in determining protein identifications in three different sample types; a control (normal, healthy patient, CSF control), SAH stroke patients (no vasospasm, CSF C) and SAH CV patients (CSF V). The results of this study, although preliminary, indicate the current methods are applicable and warrant further application to these clinically important targets.

Activated platelets shed surface proteins, potentially modifying platelet function as well as providing a source of bioactive fragments. Previous studies have identified several constituents of the platelet sheddome, but the full extent of shedding is unknown. Here we have taken a global approach, analyzing protein fragments in the supernate of activated platelets using mass spectroscopy and looking for proteins originating from platelet membranes. After removing plasma proteins and microparticles, 1048 proteins were identified, including 69 membrane proteins. Nearly all of the membrane proteins had been detected previously, but only 10 had been shown to be shed in platelets. The remaining 59 are candidates subject to confirmation. Based on spectral counts, protein representation in the sheddome varies considerably. As proof of principle, we validated one of the less frequently detected proteins, semaphorin 7A, which had not previously been identified in platelets. Surface expression, cleavage, and shedding of semaphorin 7A were demonstrated, as was its association with α-granules. Finally, cleavage of semaphorin 7A and 12 other proteins was substantially reduced by an inhibitor of ADAM17, a known sheddase. These results define a subset of membrane proteins as sheddome candidates, forming the basis for further studies examining the impact of ectodomain shedding on platelet function.

A novel approach to pancreatic cancer biomarker discovery has been developed, which employs a stable isotope labeled proteome (SILAP) standard coupled with extensive multidimensional separation coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS). Secreted proteins from CAPAN-2 human pancreatic cancer derived cells were collected after conducting stable isotope labeling by amino acids in cell culture (SILAC). The resulting SILAP standard contained, CAPAN-2 human pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma-derived cells were grown in [13C6, 15N1]leucine, [13C6,15N2]lysine. One-hundred twenty-one proteins were present at 1.5-fold or greater concentrations in the sera of patients with pancreatic cancer. Results of these studies have provided proof of principle that a SILAP standard derived from the CAPAN-2 secreted proteome can be used in combination with extensive multidimensional LC−MS/MS for the identification and relative quantification of potential biomarkers of pancreatic cancer.

The recent discovery of the promising tumor cell kill by a novel platinum-acridine conjugate [Martins, E. T.; et al. J. Med. Chem. 2001, 44, 4492] has prompted us to explore the utility of analogous light-activatable rhodium(III) compounds as photocytotoxic agents. Here, the design and synthesis of [Rh(NH(3))(5)L](n)(+) complexes are described with L = 1,1,3,3-tetramethylthiourea (tmtu) or 1-[2-(acridin-9-ylamino)ethyl]-1,3,3-trimethylthiourea (2). The intercalator-based DNA-affinic carrier ligand 2 was synthesized from N-acridin-9-yl-N'-methylethane-1,2-diamine and dimethylthiocarbamoyl chloride and isolated as the hydrotriflate salt 2(CF(3)SO(3)). [Rh(NH(3))(5)(tmtu)](3+) (1) and [Rh(NH(3))(5)(2)](4+) (3) were obtained from the reactions of the trifluoromethanesulfonato complex [Rh(NH(3))(5)(OSO(2)CF(3))](CF(3)SO(3))(2) with the appropriate thiourea in noncoordinating solvents. All compounds were characterized by (1)H NMR and UV-vis spectroscopies and by elemental analyses. The single-crystal X-ray structures of 1(CF(3)SO(3))(3) x 2MeOH, 2(CF(3)SO(3)), and 3(CF(3)SO(3))(4) x H(2)O have been determined. Ligand-field photolysis of thermally inert 1 (lambda(max) = 378 nm) resulted in the aquation of 2 equiv of ammine ligand without noticeable release of sulfur-bound tmtu ((1)H NMR spectroscopy, NH(3)-sensitive electrode measurements). This was confirmed by (15)N[(1)H] NMR spectroscopy using (15)N-labeled [Rh((15)NH(3))(5)(tmtu)](3+) (1), which also indicated photoisomerization of the [RhN(5)S] moiety. Despite greatly accelerated ligand exchange, rhodium in 1 and 3 did not show light-enhanced formation of covalent adducts in calf thymus DNA. "Dark binding" levels of 3 in native DNA were slightly higher than for nontargeted 1, but significantly lower than those observed for analogous platinum-acridine. Agarose gel electrophoresis revealed photocleavage of supercoiled pUC19 plasmid DNA in the presence of hybrid 3 and its individual constituents 1 and 2. Simple 1 induced single-strand breaks while 3 produced complete degradation of the DNA after 24 h of continuous irradiation. Acridine 2 alone produced double-strand breaks. The extent of DNA damage observed for 1-3 correlates with the photocytotoxicity of the compounds in human leukemia cells, suggesting that DNA might be the cellular target of these agents.