Inhibition of hexokinase and protein kinase activities of tumor cells by a chloromethyl ketone derivative of lactic acid.

A chloromethyl ketone derivative of lactic acid is a potent inhibitor of glycolysis of Ehrlich ascites tumor cells. It inhibited glycolysis of intact cells by about 50% at 200 microM (100 nmol/mg of protein) while cell-free extracts were inhibited 50% at 50 microM (50 nmol/mg of protein). N alpha-(p-Tosyl)-L-lysine chloromethyl ketone and N alpha-(p-tosyl)-L-phenylalanine chloromethyl ketone inhibited only slightly or not at all at this concentration. The inhibition was localized at the hexokinase and phosphofructokinase steps since these two enzymes added to an inactivated extract restored the glycolytic activity, whereas none of the other glycolytic enzymes did. In fact, addition of pyruvate kinase or lactate dehydrogenase, which stimulated glycolysis, resulted in a more pronounced inhibition. Glycolysis and hexokinase activities in extracts of Rous sarcoma virus transformed cells were considerably more sensitive to the inhibitor than the activities from normal chick embryo fibroblasts. Hexokinase from mouse brain required 50 times higher concentrations for inhibition than the enzyme from mouse Ehrlich ascites tumor cells. Yeast hexokinase was unaffected at all concentrations tested. Since 5,5'-dithiobis(2-nitrobenzoate) protected against the inhibition, the chloromethyl ketone appeared to inhibit by interaction with an essential SH group. A pronounced inhibition of protein kinase activity of plasma membranes of Ehrlich ascites tumor cells was observed in the presence of the chloromethyl ketone. As in the case of glycolysis, the chloromethyl ketone of lactic acid was a more potent inhibitor of protein kinase activity than several other chloromethyl ketones that were tested.