and Reversal by Homocysteine

Abstract. Purine nucleosides, which accumulate in adenosine deaminase and purine nucleoside phosphorylase deficiency, are toxic to lymphoid cells. Since adenine nucleosides inhibit S-adenosylhomocysteine hydrolase, they could potentially decrease intracellular methionine synthesis. To test this hypothesis, we measured methionine synthesis by the use of ['4C]formate as a radioactive precursor in cultured human T and B lymphoblasts treated with varying concentrations of purine nucleosides; 2'-deoxycoformycin and 8-aminoguanosine were added to inhibit adenosine deaminase and purine nucleoside phosphorylase, respectively. In the T lymphoblasts methionine synthesis was inhibited-50 % by 10 MAM of 2'-deoxyadenosine, adenine arabinoside, or 2'-deoxyguanosine. By contrast, in the B lymphoblasts methionine synthesis was considerably less affected by these nucleosides, with 50 % inhibition occurring at 100,uM of 2'-deoxyadenosine and adenine arabinoside; 100 uM of2'-deoxyguanosine yielded <10% inhibition. Adenosine and guanosine were considerably less potent inhibitors of methionine synthesis in both the T and B lymphoblasts. An adenosine deaminasedeficient and a purine nucleoside phosphorylase-deficient cell line, both of B cell origin, exhibited sensitivities to the nucleosides similar to those of the normal B cell lines. In both the T and B cell lines homocysteine reversed the methionine synthesis inhibition induced by the adenine nucleosides and guanosine and largely reversed that induced by 2'-deoxyguanosine. Methionin