The relationship between the antitumor activity and the ribonucleotide reductase inhibitory activity of (E)-2'-deoxy-2'-(fluoromethylene) cytidine, MDL 101,731.

(E)-2'-deoxy-2'-(fluoromethylene) cytidine (MDL101,731) is a new deoxycytidine analog which shows potent antitumor activity against several human tumor models. We previously showed that MDL101,731 inhibited human ribonucleotide reductase (RNR) in HeLa S3 human cervical carcinoma cells. Recently, it has been reported that another deoxycytidine analog, 2'-deoxy-2'-methylidenecytidine (DMDC) which also inhibits RNR from Escherichia coli, does not inhibit RNR in intact L1210 murine leukemia cells. MDL101,731 was designed as an inhibitor of RNR, so it is important to know the contribution of the RNR inhibitory activity of the drug on its antitumor efficacy in vivo. Therefore, we examined the relationship between the antitumor activity and RNR inhibitory activity of MDL101,731 using LX-1 human lung carcinoma which was highly sensitive to this drug. MDL101,731 showed strong inhibition of RNR activity in LX-1 lung carcinoma by both i.v. and p.o. administration. Administration of 15 mg/kg i.v. and 30 mg/kg p.o. of MDL101,731, doses which showed almost the same degree of antitumor activity against LX-1 lung carcinoma on a daily 5 day schedule, caused a similar degree and similar kinetics of inhibition of RNR in LX-1 lung carcinoma at least for 12 h after administration. On the other hand, DMDC as well as 1-beta-D-arabinofuranosyl-cytosine (ara-C), which is a well-known deoxycytidine analog and inhibits DNA polymerase alpha, did not inhibit RNR in LX-1 lung carcinoma at doses demonstrating antitumor activity. These results indicate that MDL101,731 exhibited antitumor activity through inhibition of RNR activity in tumor cells in vivo and the mechanism of antitumor action of MDL 101,731 might be different from those of DMDC and ara-C, at least in part.