Inhibition of N-acetylglucosamine kinase and N-acetylmannosamine kinase by 3-O-methyl-N-acetyl-D-glucosamine in vitro.

During the search for inhibitors of N-acetylneuraminic acid biosynthesis, it was shown that 3-O-methyl-N-acetylglucosamine competitively inhibits the N-acetylglucosamine kinase of rat liver in vitro with a Ki value of 17 microM. N-Acetylmannosamine kinase is inhibited non-competitively with a Ki value of 80 microM. In a human hepatoma cell line (HepG2), 3-O-methyl-N-acetyl-D-glucosamine (1 mM) inhibits the incorporation of 14C-N-acetylglucosamine and 14C-N-acetylmannosamine into cellular glycoproteins by 88% and 70%, respectively.