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Membrane Peroxidative Damage Enhancement by the Ether Lipid Class of Antineoplastic Agents¹

Department of Medicine [B. A. W., C. P. B.] and the Electron Spin Resonance Facility [G. R. B.], The University of Iowa College of Medicine, Iowa City, Iowa 52242

The ether lipid antineoplastic agents have no known interaction with DNA, but rather they appear to target membranes. The primary mechanism of action is unknown but effects on membrane biology are documented. We have studied the effect of two ether lipids on membrane lipids and examined the hypothesis that membrane peroxidative damage may be involved in their mechanism of action. With the use of cells having membranes enriched in polyunsaturated fatty acids of the -3 family of fatty acids, we have demonstrated that the prototypical ether lipid 1-O-octadecyl-2-O-methyl-rac-glycero-3-phosphocholine and a thioether lipid analogue, 1-O-hexadecylmercapto-2-methoxymethyl-rac-glycero-3-phosphocholne, increase membrane lipid peroxidation and cytotoxicity in a time- and drug concentration-dependent manner. The oxidative cofactors Fe²⁺ and ascorbic acid were required. The pattern of cell death did not fully correspond to the peroxidation, since cofactors were required for peroxidation but not cytotoxicity. However, the rate of decrease in cell viability after exposure to the drug and cofactors corresponded to the peroxidation rate. In addition, when L1210 cells modified with the monounsaturated fatty acid oleic acid or unmodified cells were used, there was no ether lipid-enhanced peroxidation, and the cells were significantly less sensitive to the drug, with or without cofactors. The lipid-soluble antioxidant vitamin E inhibited 1-O-octadecyl-2-O-methyl-rac-glycero-3-phosphocholine peroxidation and cytotoxicity in a concentration-dependent manner in the presence of cofactors but not consistently without them. Depletion of cellular glutathione content of L1210 cells using L-buthionine-(SR)-sulfoximine resulted in 40% augmentation of cofactor-facilitated cytotoxicity of 1-O-octadecyl-2-O-methyl-rac-glycero-3-phosphocholine and a borderline effect on peroxidation. Another ether lipid, the thio compound 1-O-hexadecylmercapto-2-methoxymethyl-rac-glycero-3-phosphocholine, enhanced peroxidation in the presence of cofactors with kinetics corresponding to those of cytotoxicity. In the presence of ether lipid and cofactors the intensity of ascorbate free radical increased, consistent with oxidative stress. We conclude that the ether lipids stimulate membrane lipid peroxidation in a time- and drug concentration-dependent manner in the presence of oxidative cofactors. Even though peroxidation may not fully explain the cytotoxic effect of the ether lipid class of anticancer drugs, this observation provides further information on the nature of the membrane damage induced by the drugs. Since the ether lipids generate no known free radical intermediates directly, this suggests that membrane damage indirectly results in a process involving a peroxidative reaction.

¹ Supported by Grant CA31526 awarded by the National Cancer Institute, Department of Health and Human Services. Data analysis utilized the Clinfo system, supported by Grant RR59 from the General Clinical Research Centers Program, Division of Research Resources, NIH.

² To whom requests for reprints should be addressed, at The University of Iowa Hospitals, Department of Internal Medicine, Iowa City, IA 52242.

Received 5/11/92. Accepted 8/18/92.

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