Role of thymidine kinase in the inhibitory activity of 5-substituted-2'-deoxyuridines on the growth of human and murine tumor cell lines

Twenty-four 5-substituted 2'-deoxyuridines have been evaluated for their inhibitory effects on the growth of three human lymphoblast cell lines (Namalva, Raji and TK − (thymidine kinase deficient) Raji) and these inhibitory effects were compared to those for two murine leukemia cell lines (L1210/0 and L1210/BdUrd). The latter was selected from the parental L1210/0 cell line by its ability to grow at high concentrations of 5-bromo-dUrd and could also be considered as TK −. There was a close correlation between the inhibitory effects of the deoxyuridine analogs on Namalva, Raji and L1210 cells: the correlation coefficient ( r) for log id 50 (median inhibitory dose) for L1210 cell growth, on the one hand, and log id 50 for Namalva or Raji cell growth, on the other hand, was 0.902 and 0.929, respectively. There was also a strong correlation ( r = 0.936) between the log id 50 values for the two human lymphoblast cell lines. However, there was no significant correlation ( r < 0.40) either between the log id 50 for the TK − Raji cells and the parental TK + Raji cells, or between the log id 50 for the TK − L1210/BdUrd cells and the parental TK + L1210/0 cells. We may conclude therefore, that (i) the murine leukemia L1210 cell system is predictive for the growth-inhibitory effects of 5-substituted 2'-deoxyuridines on human lymphoblast cell lines, and (ii) the antitumor cell activity of the 5-substituted 2'-deoxyuridines is, to a large extent, dependent on the thymidine kinase activity of the tumor cells.