6r4t

Publication Abstract from PubMed

Nucleoside analogues are widely used in clinical practice as chemotherapy drugs. Arabinose nucleoside derivatives such as fludarabine are effective in the treatment of patients with acute and chronic leukemias and non-Hodgkin's lymphomas. Although nucleoside analogues are generally known to function by inhibiting DNA synthesis in rapidly proliferating cells, the identity of their in vivo targets and mechanism of action are often not known in molecular detail. Here we provide a structural basis for arabinose nucleotide-mediated inhibition of human primase, the DNA-dependent RNA polymerase responsible for initiation of DNA synthesis in DNA replication. Our data suggest ways in which the chemical structure of fludarabine could be modified to improve its specificity and affinity toward primase, possibly leading to less toxic and more effective therapeutic agents.

Structural Basis for Inhibition of Human Primase by Arabinofuranosyl Nucleoside Analogues Fludarabine and Vidarabine.,Holzer S, Rzechorzek NJ, Short IR, Jenkyn-Bedford M, Pellegrini L, Kilkenny ML ACS Chem Biol. 2019 Sep 20;14(9):1904-1912. doi: 10.1021/acschembio.9b00367. Epub , 2019 Sep 11. PMID:31479243^[1]

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.