The dipeptide monoester prodrugs of floxuridine and gemcitabine - feasibility of orally administrable nucleoside analogs

Dipeptide monoester prodrugs of floxuridine and gemcitabine were synthesized. Their chemical stability in buffers, enzymatic stability in cell homogenates, permeability in mouse intestinal membrane along with drug concentration in mouse plasma, and anti-proliferative activity in cancer cells were de...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Tsume, Yasuhiro, Borrás Bermejo, Blanca, Amidon, Gordon L.
Format: article
Status:Published version
Publication Date:2014
Country:España
Institution:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
Repository:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
OAI Identifier:oai:recercat.cat:10459.1/57908
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.3390/ph7020169
http://hdl.handle.net/10459.1/57908
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Gemcitabine prodrug
Floxuridine prodrug
Mouse in situ perfusion
Description
Summary:Dipeptide monoester prodrugs of floxuridine and gemcitabine were synthesized. Their chemical stability in buffers, enzymatic stability in cell homogenates, permeability in mouse intestinal membrane along with drug concentration in mouse plasma, and anti-proliferative activity in cancer cells were determined and compared to their parent drugs. Floxuridine prodrug was more enzymatically stable than floxuridine and the degradation from prodrug to parent drug works as the rate-limiting step. On the other hand, gemcitabine prodrug was less enzymatically stable than gemcitabine. Those dipeptide monoester prodrugs exhibited 2.4- to 48.7-fold higher uptake than their parent drugs in Caco-2, Panc-1, and AsPC-1 cells. Floxuridine and gemcitabine prodrugs showed superior permeability in mouse jejunum to their parent drugs and exhibited the higher drug concentration in plasma after in situ mouse perfusion. Cell proliferation assays in ductal pancreatic cancer cells, AsPC-1 and Panc-1, indicated that dipeptide prodrugs of floxuridine and gemcitabine were more potent than their parent drugs. The enhanced potency of nucleoside analogs was attributed to their improved membrane permeability. The prodrug forms of 5¢-L-phenylalanyl-l-tyrosyl-floxuridine and 5¢-L-phenylalanyl-L-tyrosyl-gemcitabine appeared in mouse plasma after the permeation of intestinal membrane and the first-pass effect, suggesting their potential for the development of oral dosage form for anti-cancer agents.