Title:Research Progress on hCNT3 Structure/Function and Nucleoside Anticancer
Drugs
Volume: 25
Issue: 2
Author(s): Xinru Yue, Xun Zhang, Derong Zhang, Zhigang Zhang, Lingkai Tang, Zuoxin Ou, Yujie Cao, Jing Li, Ying Li, Li Liang, Wei Liu and Jianping Hu*
Affiliation:
- Sichuan Provincial Education Department Key Laboratory of Medicinal and Edible Plant Resources Development,
College of Pharmacy, Chengdu University, Chengdu, China
Keywords:
hCNT3, Na+-coupling, substrate recognition, nucleoside delivery, molecular design, TM9.
Abstract: Membrane protein human concentrative nucleoside transporter 3 (hCNT3) can not only
transport extracellular nucleosides into the cell but also transport various nucleoside-derived anticancer
drugs to the focus of infection for therapeutic effects. Typical nucleoside anticancer drugs,
including fludarabine, cladabine, decitabine, and clofarabine, are recognized by hCNT3 and then
delivered to the lesion site for their therapeutic effects. hCNT3 is highly conserved during the evolution
from lower to higher vertebrates, which contains scaffold and transport domains in structure
and delivers substrates by coupling with Na+ and H+ ions in function. In the process of substrate delivery,
the transport domain rises from the lower side of transmembrane 9 (TM9) in the inward conformation
to the upper side of the outward conformation, accompanied by the collaborative motion
of TM7b/ TM4b and hairpin 1b (HP1b)/ HP2b. With the report of a series of three-dimensional
structures of homologous CNTs, the structural characteristics and biological functions of hCNT3
have attracted increasing attention from pharmacists and biologists. Our research group has also recently
designed an anticancer lead compound with high hCNT3 transport potential based on the
structure of 5-fluorouracil. In this work, the sequence evolution, conservation, molecular structure,
cationic chelation, substrate recognition, elevator motion pattern and nucleoside derivative drugs of
hCNT3 were reviewed, and the differences in hCNT3 transport mode and nucleoside anticancer
drug modification were summarized, aiming to provide theoretical guidance for the subsequent
molecular design of novel anticancer drugs targeting hCNT3.