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Biomedical subjects

S Spadari

Publications and source records attributed to S Spadari.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources
PubMed1985

DNA methyltransferases: activity minigel analysis and determination with DNA covalently bound to a solid matrix.

We describe two methods that facilitate detection and characterization of DNA methyltransferases: activity gel analysis and the use of DNA-cellulose or DNA-Sepharose in DNA methylation reactions. The first permits identification of catalytic subunits, determination of the influence of proteolysis, and evolutionary or developmental studies. The second allows accurate and fast determination of DNA methyltransferase activities in crude extracts and during purification.

Catalysis↗
PubMed1985

In vivo distribution and activity of aphidicolin on dividing and quiescent cells.

In view of a possible use of aphidicolin, an inhibitor of DNA polymerases (including viral DNA polymerases), to control excessive cell proliferation we have investigated: the effect of the drug on the growth of several human neoplastic cells; the activity of synthetic analogs aimed at relating the structural feature of aphidicolin to cytotoxicity; the in vivo fate and distribution of aphidicolin in different fluids, organs and tissues of mice following parenteral and/or peroral administration.

Animals↗
PubMed1985

Control of cell division by aphidicolin without adverse effects upon resting cells.

Aphidicolin, a tetracyclic diterpenoid obtained from the culture filtrates of Cephalosporium aphidicola and other fungi, inhibits the growth of eukaryotic cells and of certain animal viruses (SV40, Herpes and Vaccinia viruses) by selectively inhibiting the cellular replicative DNA polymerase alpha or the viral-induced DNA polymerases. The arrest of cellular or viral growth is thus due to inhibition of cellular or viral replicative DNA synthesis without interference with mitochondrial DNA synthesis, RNA, protein and nucleic acid precursors synthesis or other major metabolic pathways. The inhibition of all sensitive eukaryotic DNA polymerases by aphidicolin is competitive with respect to dCTP. Aphidicolin has thus proved extremely useful in elucidating the functional role of DNA polymerase alpha in nuclear DNA replication, of DNA polymerase gamma in mitochondrial DNA synthesis and both DNA polymerases beta and alpha in DNA repair synthesis. An important laboratory application of aphidicolin is the synchronization of the cell cycle of eukaryotic cells both in culture and in vivo. The properties of aphidicolin have recently aroused considerable interest for its possible exploitation in al practice. The mechanism of action of this drug suggests in fact that it may be useful for controlling excessive cell proliferation in patients with cancer, psoriasis or other dermatitis with little or no adverse effect upon non-multiplying cells. Interestingly, when administered to mice, the highest levels of aphidicolin are found in those tissues most actively proliferating with little or no aphidicolin present in neurons or myocardial cells.

Animals↗
PubMed1984

Structural alterations of pathologically or physiologically modified DNA.

We have studied the alterations of DNA conformation in in vitro depurinated or methylated topological isomers of the plasmid pAT 153. Depurination by heat/acid treatment or alkylation by methyl methanesulfonate (pathological modifications) result in DNA unwinding detected as a reduction in the degree of supercoiling of DNA topoisomers as measured by the alteration of electrophoretic mobility on agarose gel. On the contrary, in vitro enzymic methylation at the C-5 position of cytosine (physiological modification) does not measurably alter the tertiary structure of the circular substrates. From the average number of modified sites needed to remove one superhelical twist from each single topoisomer of a population of partially relaxed DNA molecules, we have calculated an unwinding angle smaller than -3.4 degree per methylated purine and of approximately -12.0 degree per apurinic site. These results, together with previously reported values of unwinding by pyrimidine dimers, suggest a possible mechanism of recognition of damaged sites by repair mechanisms that are not single-damage specific.

Apurinic Acid↗
PubMed1984

Differential substrate specificity of DNA polymerase beta and of a DNA polymerase induced by herpes simplex virus type 2 towards thymidine triphosphate analogues.

Several triphosphates of 5-substituted deoxyuridine (dU), such as 5-ethyl-, 5-n-propyl-, 5-n-hexyl- and 5-isopropyldeoxyuridine triphosphates and 5-trifluorothymidine triphosphate are substrates for HeLa cell DNA polymerase beta (2'-deoxynucleoside-5'-triphosphate:DNA-deoxynucleotidyltransferase, EC 2.7.7.7) and for a DNA polymerase isolated from HeLa cells infected with herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) strain 75. At the concentration tested (50 microM), all these analogues were incorporated more readily into DNA by the virus-coded enzyme than by DNA polymerase beta from the host cell. The DNA polymerase coded by HSV-2 showed an affinity for deoxythymidine triphosphate (dTTP) and the analogues studied higher than that of DNA polymerase beta. Analogues are preferential substrates for the viral enzyme, since they readily substitute for dTTP during synthesis in vitro. In contrast, arabinosylthymine-5'-triphosphate was readily incorporated into DNA by the host cell DNA polymerase beta, but inhibited the DNA polymerase specified by HSV-2.

DNA Polymerase I↗
PubMed1984

Control of DNA replication and cell proliferation in eukaryotes by aphidicolin.

The mycotoxin aphidicolin specifically inhibits nuclear DNA synthesis in eukaryotic cells by intereacting with the replicative DNA polymerase alpha. The drug does not bind directly to DNA nor does it interfere with RNA, protein and nucleic acid precursor synthesis. Aphidicolin offers a new tool for analyzing the mechanism of DNA replication and repair in eukaryotes and for studying the role of eukaryotic DNA polymerases. The drug might also be valuable therapeutically for controlling excessive cell proliferation without adverse effects upon non-multiplying cells. We describe here how to synchronize DNA synthesis in human cells by a double block with aphidicolin and the properties of two human cell lines resistant to the drug.

Animals↗
PubMed1983

Interrelation between viral and cellular DNA synthesis in mouse cells infected with the parvovirus minute virus of mice.

Mouse fibroblasts arrested in G0 by isoleucine deprivation were inoculated with the autonomous parvovirus minute virus of mice (MVM). Infected cells were released from the G0 block by transfer to complete medium and their progression to and and through the S phase was monitored. The onset of viral and cellular DNA synthesis coincided, suggesting that cellular factor(s) required for MVM DNA replication became available as soon as cells entered the S phase. Cellular DNA synthesis was reduced to about 60% by MVM infection. However, this inhibition did not decrease significantly the overall rate of DNA replication in infected cells because it was compensated by concomitant viral DNA synthesis. MVM infection delayed the movement of the cells out of S phase by at least 5 h. At any time post-infection, more than 95% of both viral and cellular DNA synthesis was sensitive to inhibition by aphidicolin. Since this drug is highly specific for cellular DNA polymerase alpha, the data are consistent with a major role of this enzyme in the in vivo DNA replication of autonomous parvovirus. The assembly of 95% of virus progeny particles was concomitant with a late phase or viral DNA replication which accounted for 30% of the total viral DNA synthesized. The inhibition of this residual viral DNA replication by aphidicolin reduced dramatically the size of the burst of infectious particles; this observation concurs with other evidence to suggest that encapsidation is driven by a late replication event sensitive to this drug.

Animals↗
PubMed1982

Differential incorporation of thymidylate analogues into DNA by DNA polymerase alpha and by DNA polymerases specified by two herpes simplex viruses.

Several triphosphates (TP) of 5-substituted deoxyuridine (dU), like 5-ethyl (Et), 5-n-propyl (n-Pr), 5-iso-propyl (iso-Pr), 5-n-hexyl (n-Hx), and 5-trifluorothymidine (F3-dT) were used as substrates for HeLa DNA polymerase alpha and for two herpes simplex virus (HSV)-coded DNA polymerases isolated from HeLa cells infected with HSV-1, strain C42 (wild-type), or its mutant resistant to phosphonoformate (PFAr). All polymerases were purified up to the DNA-cellulose column step and they showed comparable specific activities. The incorporation into DNA studied with all the alkyl analogues of dUTP is several times higher with the virus enzymes than with DNA polymerase alpha. The DNA polymerase of the mutant virus incorporates dUTP analogues to a lower extent than the wild-type polymerase. The two virus enzymes also differ in the Km and Vmax values for different substrates, indicating that the mutation to PFAr has affected the structure of the virus DNA polymerase. Surprisingly, all three enzymes use F3-dTTP as substrate for DNA synthesis to an equal but limited extent.

DNA↗
PubMed1982

Inhibition of DNA replication and growth of several human and murine neoplastic cells by aphidicolin without detectable effect upon synthesis of immunoglobulins and HLA antigens.

Aphidicolin inhibits DNA replication and growth of all tested human and murine neoplastic cells including leukemic T- and B-lymphocytes and melanocarcinoma cells. The concentration of aphidicolin causing 50% inhibition of DNA synthesis in all of the tested neoplastic cell lines is similar to that necessary to inhibit DNA synthesis in HeLa cells by 50%. The mechanism of inhibition of DNA synthesis in neoplastic cells is again due to the inhibition of DNA polymerase alpha by aphidicolin. Aphidicolin at a concentration 100 times higher than that causing 50% inhibition of DNA synthesis and cell growth had no effect on total protein synthesis, on the secretion of immunoglobulins, or on the expression of HLA antigens which are involved in relevant phenomena of the immune response.

Animals↗
PubMed1981

Aphidicolin does not inhibit DNA repair synthesis in ultraviolet-irradiated HeLa cells. A radioautographic study.

A radioautographic examination of nuclear DNA synthesis in unirradiated and u.v.-irradiated HeLa cells, in the presence and in the absence of aphidicolin, showed that aphidicolin inhibits nuclear DNA replication and has no detectable effect on DNA repair synthesis. Although the results establish that in u.v.-irradiated HeLa cells most of the DNA repair synthesis is not due to DNA polymerase alpha, they do not preclude a significant role for this enzyme in DNA repair processes.

Aphidicolin↗
PubMed1981

An autoradiographic demonstration of nuclear DNA replication by DNA polymerase alpha and of mitochondrial DNA synthesis by DNA polymerase gamma.

The incorporation of thymidine into the DNA of eukaryotic cells is markedly depressed, but not completely inhibited, by aphidicolin, a highly specific inhibitor of DNA polymerase alpha. An electron microscope autoradiographic analysis of the synthesis of nuclear and mitochondrial DNA in vivo in Concanavalin A stimulated rabbit spleen lymphocytes and in Hamster cell cultures, in the absence and in the presence of aphidicolin, revealed that aphidicolin inhibits the nuclear but not the mitochondrial DNA replication. We therefore conclude that DNA polymerase alpha performs the synchronous bidirectional replication of nuclear DNA and that DNA polymerase gamma, the only DNA polymerase present in the mitochondria, performs the "strand displacement" DNA synthesis of these organelles.

Animals↗
PubMed1981

An enzymatic method for microdetermination of aphidicolin: a promising anticancer drug.

We have developed a method, based on the in vitro inhibition of purified human DNA polymerase alpha, the major enzyme of DNA replication, which allows the rapid and accurate determination of pmol amounts of aphidicolin, a promising anticancer drug. The efficacy of this simple method was verified by the determination of aphidicolin in the liver, spleen, blood and urine of mice treated parenterically with the drug. Given its sensitivity and the avoidance of radioactive tracers, this enzymatic method is suitable for the determination of the drug in body fluids and tissue biopsies from living humans. It allows the detection and quantitation of aphidicolin in the presence of inactive metabolite(s) with very similar chemical structure(s) such as those generated by liver microsomal oxidases. The technique will also be useful to monitor the purification of the drug from cultures of Cephalosporium aphidicola.

Animals↗