PR104A is an experimental
DNA-alkylating
hypoxia-activated
prodrug that can also be activated in an
oxygen-independent manner by the two-electron
aldo-keto reductase 1C3. Nitroreduction leads to the formation of cytotoxic
hydroxylamine (PR104H) and
amine (PR104M) metabolites, which induce
DNA mono and cross-linked adducts in cells. PR104A-derived
DNA adducts can be utilized as drug-specific
biomarkers of efficacy and as a mechanistic tool to elucidate the cellular and molecular effects of PR104A. Toward this goal, a mass spectrometric bioanalysis approach based on a stable
isotope-labeled adduct mixture (SILAM) and selected reaction monitoring (SRM) data acquisition for relative quantitation of PR104A-derived
DNA adducts in cells was developed. Use of this SILAM-based approach supported simultaneous relative quantitation of 33 PR104A-derived
DNA adducts in the same sample, which allowed testing of the hypothesis that the enhanced cytotoxicity, observed by preconditioning cells with the transcription-activating
isothiocyanate sulforaphane, is induced by an increased level of
DNA adducts induced by PR104H and PR104M, but not PR104A. By applying the new SILAM-SRM approach, we found a 2.4-fold increase in the level of
DNA adducts induced by PR104H and PR104M in HT-29 cells preconditioned with
sulforaphane and a corresponding 2.6-fold increase in cytotoxicity. These results suggest that
DNA adduct levels correlate with drug potency and underly the possibility of monitoring PR104A-derived
DNA adducts as
biomarkers of efficacy.