Variation of the inhibition of calmodulin dependent cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase amongst analogues of tamoxifen; correlations with cytotoxicity.

The ability of a variety of analogues of tamoxifen to inhibit calmodulin dependent cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase has been determined. Effective inhibition requires that the aminoethoxy side chain bears a positive charge at physiological pH and is not too bulky. Amongst 4-substituents, inhibitory potency increases with lipophilicity. The stereochemistry about the olefinic linkage is not important. The most potent agent found (IC50 1.4 microM, compare tamoxifen = 6.75 microM) has a 4-iodine substituent and pyrrolidino in place of dimethylamino. This analogue is also more cytotoxic than tamoxifen against MCF-7 human breast cancer cells as determined in a 24-hr assay, but there was no correlation found between calmodulin inhibition and cytotoxicity against the L1210 murine leukaemia or Walker rat carcinosarcoma cells in culture. The results are consistent with the possibility that calmodulin is important to the functioning of oestrogen receptor mediated growth in MCF-7 cells.