Observations on the suramin-mediated inhibition of cellular and viral DNA polymerases.

We have examined the sensitivity of various cellular and viral DNA polymerases to Suramin, an antitrypanosomal drug, which has been reported to exhibit antireverse transcriptase activity. We find that Suramin is a nonspecific inhibitor of all the viral and cellular DNA polymerases, including terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase, and that the inhibition is most readily reversed by the addition of serum albumin. The drug appears to bind to all the enzyme proteins with no apparent selectivity. Binding of Suramin to enzyme has been found to result in the loss of both substrate and templateprimer binding abilities of various enzymes, confirming the nonspecific nature of protein-Suramin interaction.