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Development of methotrexate proline prodrug to overcome resistance by MDA-MB-231 cells
Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters (2010)
  • Zhiqian (James) Wu
  • Anandkumar Shah
  • Namrata Patel
  • Xudong Yuan
Abstract
The resistance to methotrexate by a number of cancer cells such as breast cancer cell-line MDA-MB-231 due to poor permeability renders it less effective as an anticancer agent for these cells. Proline prodrug of methotrexate (Pro-MTX) was designed as a substrate of prolidase which is specific for imido bond of dipeptide containing proline and expected to penetrate MDA-MB-231 cells more efficiently. The prodrug was synthesized by solid-phase peptide synthesis method and examined as a substrate of pure prolidase as well as cell homogenate. The cytotoxicity against MDA-MB-231 and non-methotrexate resistant breast cancer cell line, MCF-7 was also examined by XTT assay. The results showed that Pro-MTX was a substrate of prolidase. It was also shown that the prodrug could be converted to parent drug methotrexate in Caco-2 and HeLa cell homogenate. When tested with Caco-2 and MCF-7 cells, Pro-MTX showed weaker cytotoxicity compared with methotrexate. But for methotrexate resistant MDA-MB-231 cells, Pro-MTX showed stronger activity than methotrexate. The results indicated that the proline prodrug of methotrexate may overcome the resistance of human breast cancer cells in culture.
Keywords
  • Proline methotrexate prodrug,
  • Prolidase,
  • Methotrexate resistance,
  • Enzyme-targeted delivery,
  • Enzyme-dependent activation,
  • MDA-MB-231
Publication Date
September, 2010
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bmcl.2010.07.024
Citation Information
Zhiqian (James) Wu, Anandkumar Shah, Namrata Patel and Xudong Yuan. "Development of methotrexate proline prodrug to overcome resistance by MDA-MB-231 cells" Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters Vol. 20 Iss. 17 (2010) p. 5108 - 5112
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/zhiqianjames_wu/18/