Uridine triphosphate deficiency, growth inhibition, and death in ascites hepatoma cells induced by a combination of pyrimidine biosynthesis inhibition with uridylate trapping.

A selective deficiency of uridine triphosphate (UTP) was induced in AS-30D rat ascites hepatoma cells by the synergistic action of D-galactosamine and 6-azauridine. The resistance of these hepatoma cells to low concentrations of D-galactosamine (less than 2 mM) was due to their active de novo pyrimidine synthesis which compensated the trapping of uridylate in the form of uridine diphosphate-amino sugars derived from D-galactosamine. The additional blockage of de novo pyrimidine synthesis led to noncompensated uridylate trapping with a UTP content of less than 0.05 mmole/kg of cell wet weight as compared to the control level of 0.66 mmole/kg. The induction of UTP deficiency by incubating the cells with low concentrations of D-galactosamine and 6-azauridine (0.5 mM each) was not accompanied by significant changes in the content of adenine and guanine nucleotides, uridine diphosphate glucose, and uridine diphosphate galactose. The depletion of UTP pools could be reversed within 10 min by the addition of uridine; orotate or uracil were completely ineffective in these hepatoma cells. A UTP content in the range of 0.1 to 0.4 mmole/kg, induced by either 6-azauridine or D-galactosamine, was associated with a reversible depression of cell growth in suspension culture. A UTP content below 0.05 mmole/kg led to irreversible growth inhibition and to necrocytosis in culture, as well as to a loss of transplantability in vivo. Uridine reversal studies indicated that the percentage of cells able to resume growth in culture decreased with an increasing time period of UTP deficiency. The deficiency period required for irreparable or lethal damage in these hepatoma cells ranged from 3 to 20 hr. The principle of noncompensated uridylate trapping can be extended to other inhibitors of nucleotide synthesis combined with various nucleotide-trapping sugar analogs. Noncompensated nucleotide trapping may be useful for an induction of selective nucleotide deficiencies in tumor cells.