Effect of lonidamine on protein synthesis in neoplastic cells

The action of lonidamine, 1,(2,4 dichlorobenzyl)-1H-indazol-3-carboxylic acid, on protein synthesis of neoplastic cells growing both in vivo and in vitro has been investigated. Lonidamine decreases amino acid incorporation in all cells tested, although the inhibition is partially relieved by glucose. The inhibition of labeled precursors into acid-insoluble material cannot be ascribed to an impairment of amino acid uptake which, on the contrary, is enhanced by the drug. Tests on cell-free systems showed that lonidamine does not inhibit the tobacco mosaic virus (TMV)-mRNA-directed in vitro protein synthesis, thus indicating that protein synthetic machinery per se is not affected. The inhibition of the rate of protein synthesis achieved by lonidamine must be ascribed to an effect on energy-yielding processes with a mechanism similar to that observed in other metabolic inhibitors. Lonidamine, however, because of its capacity to inhibit both respiration and glycolysis in neoplastic cells, is effective at 10 to 20 times lower concentrations. DNP and oligomycin potentiate the inhibitory effect of lonidamine on the rate of protein synthesis. This finding substantiates the idea that neoplastic cells, including those growing in ascitic form, utilize mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation as the main source of ATP for their biosynthetic processes.