5′-Substituted 2′-Deoxycytidines as Non-Substrate Inhibitors of Human Deoxycytidine Kinase

Abstract

Several 5′-substituted analogues of 2′-deoxycytidine (dC), including 5′-amino2′,5′-dideoxycytidine (5′-amino-ddC), 5′-azido-2′,5′-dideoxycytidine (5′-azido-ddC) and 5′-O-ethyl-2′-deoxycytidine (5′-O-ethyl-dC), are non-substrate inhibitors of human dC kinase. Whereas 5′-amino-ddC inhibits phosphorylation of deoxyadenosine (dA) with K_i ∼ 1 μ inhibition of phosphorylation of dC is bimodal and more effective at low inhibitor concentrations. In particular 5′-O-ethyl-dC inhibits phosphorylation of dA 10-fold more effectively (K_i ∼ 3 μ) than that of dC (K_i ∼ 30 μ). For 5′-azido-ddC inhibition was shown directly to be competitive with respect to substrate.