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DUP-785 (Brequinar sodium) is a potent inhibitor of the mitochondrial dihydroorotate dehydrogenase (DHO-DH), a rate-limiting enzyme in the pyrimidine de novo nucleotide synthesis. In phase I clinical studies at the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) Brequinar induced a long-term inhibition of DHO-DH in white blood cells (WBC) and a long-term depletion of plasma uridine. These two parameters were related to severe myelosuppression, so that in Phase II studies the dose of Brequinar was decreased considerably. We further characterized the mechanism of DHO-DH enzyme inhibition while in blood samples of patients entered into Phase II studies we evaluated DHO-DH inhibition in WBC and plasma uridine depletion. With Electron Spin Resonance it was demonstrated that DHO-DH produced oxygen radical formation, which was inhibited by Brequinar. In the Phase II study depending on the dose (600 to 2000 mg/m2), uridine decreased to 20% (at the highest dose) or to 80–85% (at the middle dose) or did not change, which was associated with inhibition of DHO-DH (1% activity left vs 11 and 24% left). Inhibition of DHO-DH in the tumor of the latter patient was moderate as well (12% activity left). Brequinar was inactive in all tumor types evaluated possibly because of high uridine levels in the tumor. In conclusion, Brequinar was inactive against solid tumors, but DHO-DH inhibition was associated with myeloid toxicity, which may explain its potential for treatment of leukemia or inflammatory diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents abstracts of the topics discussed at the 13th Turkish Neuroscience Congress held in Konya, Turkey from April 30, 2015 to May 3, 2015 including hypothalamus neurons and its calcium signalling, Nanomedicines for stroke, and impact of learning motor skill on a cerebellum.

The article presents abstracts on chemistry topics which include functional materials from liquid crystal templates, formation of silver nanoparticles, and isolation of nucleoside uridine in the gas phase.

Purines and pyrimidines are complementary bases of the genetic code. The roles of purines and their derivatives in cellular signal transduction and energy metabolism are well-known. In contrast, the roles of pyrimidines and their derivatives in cellular function remain poorly understood. In this study, the roles of uridine, a pyrimidine nucleoside, in liver metabolism are examined in mice. We report that short-term uridine administration in C57BL/6J mice increases liver protein glycosylation profiles, reduces phosphorylation level of insulin signaling proteins, and activates the HRI-eIF-2α-ATF4 heme-deficiency stress response pathway. Short-term uridine administration is also associated with reduced liver hemin level and reduced ability for insulin-stimulated blood glucose removal during an insulin tolerance test. Some of the short-term effects of exogenous uridine in C57BL/6J mice are conserved in transgenic UPase1−/− mice with long-term elevation of endogenous uridine level. UPase1−/− mice exhibit activation of the liver HRI-eIF-2α-ATF4 heme-deficiency stress response pathway. UPase1−/− mice also exhibit impaired ability for insulin-stimulated blood glucose removal. However, other short-term effects of exogenous uridine in C57BL/6J mice are not conserved in UPase1−/− mice. UPase1−/− mice exhibit normal phosphorylation level of liver insulin signaling proteins and increased liver hemin concentration compared to untreated control C57BL/6J mice. Contrasting short-term and long-term consequences of uridine on liver metabolism suggest that uridine exerts transient effects and elicits adaptive responses. Taken together, our data support potential roles of pyrimidines and their derivatives in the regulation of liver metabolism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effects of Oral administrations of uridine were investigated in a study of six healthy volunteer control subjects and nine patients with metastatic colorectal cancer. Oral uridine was studied as single-dose administrations at dosesescalating from 0.3 to 12 g/m2 and as multiple-dose administrations every 6 hours for 3 days at doses from 5 to 10 g/m2. The maximum tolerated dose (MTD) was 10 to 12 g/m2 for a single dose of uridine and 5 g/m2 for the multiple-dose regimen. Diarrhea was the dose-limiting toxic effect. Single-dose oral uridine resulted in an increase in plasma uridine concentrations in the range of 60 to 80 μM after doses of 8 to 12 g/m2. At these doses, Bioavailability of oral uridine ranged from 5.8% to 9.9%. At the MTD of 5 g/m2 in the multiple-dose uridine schedule, steady-state plasma uridine levels of approximately 50μ were achieved. Further Studies should explore the role of oral uridine in the modulation of the toxicity of fluorouracil. [J Natl Cancer Inst 83:437–441, 1991] [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]