Effects of methotrexate on nucleotide pools in normal human T cells and the CEM T cell line

It has been proposed that the clinical utility of methotrexate (MTX) in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis may be due, in part, to inhibition of 5- amino imidazole-4-carboxamide ribonucteotide formyltransferase (AICARFT) by polyglutamated forms of MTX. AICARFT is the second folate dependent enzyme in de novo purine biosynthesis. In this study, the effects of MTX on de no vo purine biosynthesis as well as total nucleotide pools were evaluated in both the human T cell line, GEM, and phytohemagglutinin-activated normal hu man T lymphocytes. De novo synthesized purines were metabolically labeled w ith C-14-glycine after MTX treatment and analyzed by HPLC. in normal T cell s, MTX produced a dose-dependent reduction in de novo adenosine and guanosi ne pools with maximal effects (>50%) at 1 mu M MTX. In CEM cells, de novo p urine synthesis was almost completely blocked by 1 mu M MTX. Total purine p ools were also reduced in both cell types after MTX treatment. Since 1 mu M MTX caused almost complete growth inhibition in CEM cells, we evaluated wh ether growth could be reconstituted with exogenous purine bases and pyrimid ine nucleosides which can be utilized via salvage pathways. The combination of hypoxanthine and thymidine substantially reversed growth inhibition wit h 1 mu M MTX in CEM cells. Taken together, these results demonstrate that M TX inhibits de novo nucleotide synthesis in T cells and suggest that AICARF T inhibition may be one aspect of the multi-site mechanism of MTX action in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.