Methotrexate-induced misincorporation of uracil into DNA

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Abstract
A line of human lymphoid cells was tested for the presence of dUMP in DNA with or without treatment with the dihydrofolate reductase inhibitor, methotrexate. Cells treated with methotrexate and labeled with [3H]dUrd [deoxyuridine] contained dUMP in DNA in readily detectable amounts (.apprx. 0.8 pmol of dUMP per .mu.mol of total DNA nucleotide), and this was increased .apprx. 3-fold if the cells were also treated with Ura [uracil] at the same time. No dUMP (< 1 fmol/.mu.mol of DNA) was detected by these methods in DNA from cells not treated with methotrexate, regardless of whether Ura was present or absent. The presence of dUMP in DNA from cells treated with methotrexate is a result of the great increase in intracellular concentration of dUTP and the fall in dTTP that accompnay inhibition of thymidylate synthetase (5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate:dUMP C-methyltransferase; EC 2.1.1.45) by the drug. These changes are apparently sufficient to overcome the normal mechanisms that exclude dUMP from DNA, and the enhancement by Ura reflects suppression of one of the mechanisms, Ura removal from DNA by the enzyme Ura-DNA glycosylase. An active lesion of DNA in cells in which thymidylate synthetase in inhibited is suggested. Under these conditions there appears to be a cyclic incorporation and removal of dUMP resulting from reinsertion of dUMP during gap repair at sites of Ura removal. This consequence of the normal excision-repair process, which occurs when intracellular levels of dUTP approach those of dTTP, may have effects related to the cytotoxicity of drug inhibitors of thymidylate synthetase, clinical deficiencies of folate and vitamin B-12, and thymineless death, in general.