Detection of Reactive Metabolites Using Isotope-Labeled Glutathione Trapping and Simultaneous Neutral Loss and Precursor Ion Scanning with Ultra-High-Pressure Liquid Chromatography Triple Quadruple Mass Spectrometry

Metabolic activation of drugs to electrophilic species is responsible for over 60% of black box warnings and drug withdrawals from the market place in the United States. Reactive metabolite trapping using glutathione (GSH) and analysis using high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) or HPLC with high resolution mass spectrometry (mass defect filtering) have enabled screening for metabolic activation to become routine during drug development. However, current MS-based approaches cannot detect all GSH conjugates present in complex mixtures, especially those present in extracts of botanical dietary supplements. To overcome these limitations, a fast triple quadrupole mass spectrometer-based approach was developed that can detect positively and negatively charged GSH conjugates in a single analysis without the need for advanced knowledge of the elemental compositions of potential conjugates and while avoiding false positives. This approach utilized UHPLC instead of HPLC to shorten separation time and enhance sensitivity, incorporated stable-isotope labeled GSH to avoid false positives, and used fast polarity switching electrospray MS/MS to detect GSH conjugates that form positive and/or negative ions. The general new method was then used to test the licorice dietary supplement <i>Glycyrrhiza glabra</i>, which was found to form multiple GSH conjugates upon metabolic activation. Among the GSH conjugates found in the licorice assay were conjugates with isoliquiritigenin and glabridin, which is an irreversible inhibitor of cytochrome P450 enzymes

Unconventional Origin of Metal Ion Rescue in the Hammerhead Ribozyme Reaction: Mn²⁺-Assisted Redox Conversion of 2‘-Mercaptocytidine to Cytidine

A specific oxygen atom in RNA is identified as a ligand for a metal ion when sulfur substitution of that atom shifts the metal ion specificity of the RNA-mediated process to a more thiophilic metal. Extensive discussion and debate have centered around whether a metal ion activates the 2‘-oxygen nucleophile during the phosphotransesterification reaction catalyzed by the hammerhead ribozyme (HH). To test this possibility, we probed the metal ion specificity of HH reactions using a substrate that contained 2‘-mercaptocytidine at the cleavage site. This substrate is generated in situ from a disulfide-protected precursor by treatment with tris(carboxyethyl)phosphine (TCEP). In HH reactions with this substrate, phosphotransesterification does not occur when Mg2+ is present as the only divalent cation but does occur in the presence of Mn2+. These results are consistent with a direct interaction between the metal ion and the nucleophile. However, further analysis reveals that this switch in metal ion specificity does not arise because Mn2+ coordinates sulfur more readily than Mg2+ does, but because under the assay conditions, the 2‘-mercaptocytidine residue is converted to a mixture of cytidyl-1-β-d-arabinofuranoside and cytidyl-1-β-d-ribofuranoside, the natural substrate for the ribozyme. This conversion occurs in the absence of HH ribozyme, requires Mn2+ (or Co2+), O2, and TCEP, and is inhibited by a free radical scavenger. The mechanism presumably involves a multistep free radical process, in which the key step is homolytic fission of the C2‘-sulfur bond induced by TCEP. The putative 2‘-carbon radical then reacts with an oxygen species to produce the cytidyl-1-β-d-arabinofuranoside and ribocytidine products. To our knowledge, this chemical transformation is unprecedented in the literature and represents a new reaction for nucleic acids. If O2 is excluded from the HH reactions, the 2‘-sulfur is not modified in the presence of Mn2+ but is still blocked in the phosphotransesterification reaction, both in the forward direction as the mercapto (−SH) group or in the reverse direction as part of a cyclic phosphorothiolate. Although we are unable to provide evidence for metal ion activation of the nucleophile in the HH ribozyme reaction, this work establishes the groundwork for further use of 2‘-mercaptonucleotides in biochemical analyses

Analysis of Protein Covalent Modification by Xenobiotics Using a Covert Oxidatively Activated Tag: Raloxifene Proof-of-Principle Study

Numerous xenobiotics, including therapeutics agents, are substrates for bioactivation to electrophilic reactive intermediates that may covalently modify biomolecules. Selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs) are in clinical use for long-term therapy of postmenopausal syndromes and chemoprevention and provide a potential alternative for hormone replacement therapy (HRT). Raloxifene, in common with many SERMs and other xenobiotics, is a polyaromatic phenol that has been shown to be metabolically bioactivated to electrophilic and redox active quinoids. Nucleic acid and glutathione adduct formation have been reported, but little is known about protein covalent modification. A novel COATag (covert oxidatively activated tag) was synthesized in which raloxifene was linked to biotin. The COATag was reactive toward a model protein, human glutathione-S-transferase P1-1, in the presence but not the absence of monooxygenase. The covalent modification of proteins in rat liver microsomal incubations was NADPH-dependent implicating cytochrome P450 oxidase. The COATag facilitated isolation and identification of covalently modified microsomal proteins:  cytosolic glucose regulated protein (GRP78/BiP), three protein disulfide isomerases, and microsomal glutathione S-transferase 1. Oxidative metabolism of raloxifene produces reactive intermediates of sufficient lifetimes to covalently modify proteins in tissue microsomes, behavior anticipated for other polyaromatic phenol xenobiotics that can be tested by the COATag methodology. The combined use of a COATag with a simple biotin-linked electrophile (such as an iodoacetamide tag) is a new technique that allows quantification of protein covalent modification via alkylation vs oxidation in response to xenobiotic reactive intermediates. The identification of modified proteins is important for defining pathways that might lead alternatively to either cytotoxicity or cytoprotection

Reaction of the Premarin Metabolite 4-Hydroxyequilenin Semiquinone Radical with 2‘-Deoxyguanosine: Formation of Unusual Cyclic Adducts

Reaction of the Premarin Metabolite 4-Hydroxyequilenin Semiquinone Radical with 2‘-Deoxyguanosine:  Formation of Unusual Cyclic Adduct

Collision Cross-Section Determination and Tandem Mass Spectrometric Analysis of Isomeric Carotenoids Using Electrospray Ion Mobility Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry

Carotenoids are natural pigments with provitamin A and antioxidant activities. Biosynthesized in plants as their all-trans isomers, carotenoids isomerize in solution and in humans to multiple cis isomers which can have different bioavailabilities and functions. Since separation and characterization of isomeric carotenoids using high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) or liquid chromatography−tandem mass spectrometry (LC−MS/MS) is time-consuming, the potential for ion mobility mass spectrometry (IM-MS) to resolve and characterize carotenoid isomers rapidly without chromatography was investigated using traveling-wave ion mobility spectrometry on a quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometer. The all-trans isomers of lycopene and β-carotene were separated by several milliseconds from the cis-isomers which were detected as partially overlapping peaks. The collision cross-section values of these carotenoid isomers were determined using IM-MS to be 180 and 236 Å2 for cis-lycopene and all-trans-lycopene, and 181 and 225 Å2 for cis-β-carotene and all-trans-β-carotene, respectively. Collision-induced dissociation MS/MS of ion mobility-resolved isomers indicated that cis and all-trans carotenoid isomers can be distinguished by their fragmentation patterns. Previous MS/MS studies of cis- and all trans-carotenoids had suggested that they produced identical tandem mass spectra, but this appears to have been the result of isomerization during ionization. Introduction of specific cis or trans isomers by infusion or HPLC resulted in cis/trans isomerization in the ion source during electrospray, and the relative levels of cis carotenoids forming in the ion source compared to the all-trans isomers were temperature dependent

Equine Estrogen Metabolite 4-Hydroxyequilenin Induces DNA Damage in the Rat Mammary Tissues: Formation of Single-Strand Breaks, Apurinic Sites, Stable Adducts, and Oxidized Bases

Epidemiological data strongly suggest that a woman's risk of developing breast cancer is directly related to her lifetime estrogen exposure. Estrogen replacement therapy in particular has been correlated with an increased cancer risk. Previously we showed that the equine estrogens equilin and equilenin, which are major components of the estrogen replacement formulation Premarin (Wyeth-Ayerst), are metabolized to the catechol, 4-hydroxyequilenin which autoxidizes to an o-quinone causing oxidation and alkylation of DNA in vitro [Bolton, J. L., Pisha, E., Zhang, F., and Qiu, S. (1998) Chem. Res. Toxicol. 11, 1113−1227]. In the present study, we injected 4-hydroxyequilenin into the mammary fat pads of Sprague−Dawley rats. Analysis of cells isolated from the mammary tissue for DNA single-strand breaks and oxidized bases using the comet assay showed a dose-dependent increase in both types of lesions. In addition, LC-MS-MS analysis of extracted mammary tissue showed the formation of an alkylated depurinating guanine adduct. Finally, extraction of mammary tissue DNA, hydrolysis to deoxynucleosides, and analysis by LC-MS-MS showed the formation of stable cyclic deoxyguanosine and deoxyadenosine adducts as well as oxidized bases. This is the first report showing that 4-hydroxyequilenin is capable of causing DNA damage in vivo. In addition, the data showed that 4-hydroxyequilenin induced four different types of DNA damage that must be repaired by different mechanisms. This is in contrast to the endogenous estrogen 4-hydroxyestrone where only depurinating guanine adducts have been detected in vivo. These results suggest that 4-hydroxyequilenin has the potential to be a potent carcinogen through the formation of variety of DNA lesions in vivo

Alkylation of 2‘-Deoxynucleosides and DNA by the Premarin Metabolite 4-Hydroxyequilenin Semiquinone Radical

Premarin (Wyeth-Ayerst) is the estrogen replacement treatment of choice and continues to be one of the most widely dispensed prescriptions in the United States. In addition to endogenous estrogens, Premarin contains unsaturated estrogens including equilenin. We synthesized the catechol metabolite of equilenin, 4-hydroxyequilenin (4-OHEN), and found that the semiquinone radical of 4-OHEN reacted with 2‘-deoxynucleosides generating very unusual adducts. 2‘-Deoxyguanosine (dG), 2‘-deoxyadenosine (dA), or 2‘-deoxycytosine (dC) all gave four isomers, but no product was observed for thymidine under similar physiological conditions. The structures of these adducts were determined by electrospray mass spectrometry and NMR experiments including 1H, 13C, DQF-COSY, ROESY, HOHAHA, HMQC, and HMBC. The spectral data show that dG forms a cyclic adduct with the 4-OHEN producing 2-N1,3-N2-deoxyguanosyl-1,3-dihydroxy-5,7,9(10)-estratriene-4,17-dione. Similarly, reaction with dA produced 1-N6,3-C2-deoxyadenosyl-2,3-dihydroxy-5,7,9(10)-estratriene-4,17-dione, and incubations with dC resulted in 1-N3,3-N4-deoxycytosyl-2,3-dihydroxy-5,7,9(10)-estratriene-4,17-dione. We found that care needed to be taken during the isolation of the dA adducts in particular, as any exposure to acidic environments caused hydrolysis of the sugar moiety leaving alkylated adenine. In mixtures of the deoxynucleosides treated with 4-OHEN, reaction occurred primarily with dG followed by dC and dA. With DNA significant apurinic sites were produced as 4-OHEN-adenine adducts were detected in the ethanol wash prior to hydrolysis. When the DNA was hydrolyzed to deoxynucleosides and analyzed by electrospray mass spectrometry, only one isomer of 4-OHEN-dG and one isomer of 4-OHEN-dC were observed. Our data suggest that several different types of DNA lesions could be expected from 4-OHEN including apurinic sites and bulky stable adducts, in addition to the published oxidized damage to DNA caused by 4-OHEN. The production of these semiquinone radical-derived DNA adducts could play a role in the carcinogenic effects of Premarin estrogens

Guanidine Alkaloids and Pictet−Spengler Adducts from Black Cohosh (<i>Cimicifuga racemosa</i>)

As an extension of work on the recently discovered nitrogenous metabolites from Cimicifuga/Actaea species, three new guanidine alkaloids have been isolated and characterized from C. racemosa (syn. A. racemosa) roots. Of these, cyclo-cimipronidine (1) and cimipronidine methyl ester (2) are congeners of cimipronidine (3), whereas dopargine (5) is a derivative of dopamine. By employing NMR- and MS-guided chemodiversity profiling of a polar serotonergic (5-HT7) fraction, the guanidine alkaloids were initially detected in a clinical extract of black cohosh and were isolated along with a congener of salsolinol 4, 5, and 3-hydroxytyrosol 3-O-glucoside (7). The structures of 1, 2, and 5 were confirmed by 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopy as well as LC-MS and HRMS spectroscopy. A plausible biosynthetic relationship may be inferred between the homoproline-analogue cimipronidines and the dopamine-derived Cimicifuga alkaloids. These strongly basic and frequently zwitterionic nitrogenous metabolites contribute considerable chemical diversity to the polar serotonergic fraction of black cohosh

Determination of Absolute Configurations of 4-Hydroxyequilenin-Cytosine and -Adenine Adducts by Optical Rotatory Dispersion, Electronic Circular Dichroism, Density Functional Theory Calculations, and Mass Spectrometry

Estrogen components of some hormone replacement formulations have been implicated in the initiation of breast cancer. Some of these formulations contain equine estrogens such as equilin and equilenin that are metabolized to the genotoxic catechol 4-hydroxyequilenin (4-OHEN). Auto-oxidation generates the o-quinone form that reacts with dC and dA in oligodeoxynucleotides to form unusual stable cyclic bulky adducts, with four different stereoisomers identified for each base adduct. The dC and dA adducts have the same unsaturated bicyclo[3.3.1]nonane type linkage site with identical stereochemical characteristics. Stereochemical effects may play an important part in the biological consequences of the formation of 4-OHEN-DNA adducts, and the assignment of the absolute configurations of the stereoisomeric 4-OHEN-dC and -dA adducts is therefore needed to understand structure−function relationships. We used density functional theory (DFT) to compute the specific optical rotations and electronic circular dichroism (ECD) spectra of the four 4-OHEN-C stereoisomers, and the results were compared with experimentally measured optical rotatory dispersion (ORD) and ECD spectra. The predicted ORD curves for the four stereoisomeric base adducts reproduced the shapes and signs of experimental spectra in the transparent spectral region. The stereochemistry of the C3′ atom was determined by comparison of the calculated and experimental ORD and ECD spectra, and the stereochemistry of C2′ was determined by mass spectrometric methods. Combining the ORD and mass spectrometry data, the absolute configurations of the four 4-OHEN-C and the stereochemically identical -dC adducts have been identified. The molecular architecture of the linkage site at the 4-OHEN-C/A and 4-OHEN-dC/dA is identical, and it is shown that the deoxyribose group does not substantially contribute to the optical activities. The absolute configurations of the 4-OHEN-dA adducts were thus deduced by comparing the experimental ORD with computed ORD values of 4-OHEN-A adducts

Oxidation of Raloxifene to Quinoids: Potential Toxic Pathways via a Diquinone Methide and <i>o</i>-Quinones

Raloxifene was approved in 1997 by the FDA for the treatment of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women, and it is currently in clinical trials for the chemoprevention of breast cancer. Before widespread use as a chemopreventive agent in healthy women, the potential cytotoxic mechanisms of raloxifene should be investigated. In the current study, raloxifene was incubated with GSH and either rat or human liver microsomes, and the metabolites and GSH conjugates were characterized using liquid chromatography−tandem mass spectrometry. Raloxifene was converted to raloxifene diquinone methide GSH conjugates, raloxifene o-quinone GSH conjugates, and raloxifene catechols. For comparison, three raloxifene catechols were synthesized and characterized. In particular, 7-hydroxyraloxifene was found to oxidize to the 6,7-o-quinone. As compared with raloxifene diquinone methide, which has a half-life of less than 1 s in phosphate buffer, the half-life of raloxifene 6,7-o-quinone was much longer at t1/2 = 69 ± 2.5 min. The stability offered by raloxifene 6,7-o-quinone implies that it may be more toxic than raloxifene diquinone methide. Cytotoxicity studies in the human breast cancer cell lines S30 and MDA-MB-231 showed that 7-hydroxyraloxifene was more toxic than raloxifene in both cell lines. These results suggest that raloxifene could be metabolized to electrophilic and redox active quinoids, which have the potential to cause toxicity in vivo