Loading Pathway...
Error: Pathway image not found.
Hide
Pathway Description
Vincristine Action Pathway (New)
Homo sapiens
Drug Action Pathway
Created: 2023-05-18
Last Updated: 2023-10-25
Vincristine is a vinca alkaloid isolated from Vinca rosea. It is used as an antineoplastic agent in many cancer treatments (acute leukemia, malignant lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease, acute erythraemia, and acute panmyelosis). This drug is often chosen as part of polychemotherapy because of its lack of significant bone–marrow suppression and its unique clinical toxicity (neuropathy). The mechanism of vincristine is the inhibition of microtubule dynamics that would cause mitotic arrest and eventual cell death. As a microtubule destabilizing agent, Vincristine stimulates mitotic spindle destruction and microtubule depolymerization at high concentrations. At lower clinically relevant concentrations, vincristine can block mitotic progression. Unlike the taxanes, which bind poorly to soluble tubulin, vincristine can bind both soluble and microtubule-associated tubulin. To be able to stabilize the kinetics of microtubule, vincristine rapidly and reversibly bind to soluble tubulin which can increase the affinity of tubulin by the induction of conformational changes of tubulin. Vincristine binds to beta-tubulin subunits at the positive end of microtubules at a region called the Vinca-binding domain. The binding between vincristine and soluble tubulin decreases the rate of microtubule dynamics (lengthening and shortening) and increases the duration of the attenuated state of microtubules. Therefore, the proper assembly of the mitotic spindle could be prevented; and the tension at the kinetochores of the chromosomes could be reduced. Subsequently, chromosomes can not progress to the spindle equator at the spindle poles. Progression from metaphase to anaphase is blocked and cells enter a state of mitotic arrest. The cells may then undergo one of several fates. The tetraploid cell may undergo unequal cell division producing aneuploid daughter cells. Alternatively, it may exit the cell cycle without undergoing cell division, a process termed mitotic slippage or adaptation. These cells may continue progressing through the cell cycle as tetraploid cells (Adaptation I), may exit G1 phase and undergo apoptosis or senescence (Adaption II), or may escape to G1 and undergo apoptosis during interphase (Adaptation III). Another possibility is cell death during mitotic arrest. Alternatively, a mitotic catastrophe may occur and cause cell death. Vinca alkaloids are also thought to increase apoptosis by increasing concentrations of p53 (cellular tumor antigen p53) and p21 (cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 1) and by inhibiting Bcl-2 activity. Increasing concentrations of p53 and p21 lead to changes in protein kinase activity. Phosphorylation of Bcl-2 subsequently inhibits the formation of Bcl-2-BAX heterodimers. This results in decreased anti-apoptotic activity. Like other vinca alkaloids, Vincristine may also interfere with 1) amino acid, cyclic AMP, and glutathione metabolism, 2) calmodulin-dependent Ca2+-transport ATPase activity, 3) cellular respiration, and 4) nucleic acid and lipid biosynthesis.
References
Vincristine Pathway (New) References
Wishart DS, Feunang YD, Guo AC, Lo EJ, Marcu A, Grant JR, Sajed T, Johnson D, Li C, Sayeeda Z, Assempour N, Iynkkaran I, Liu Y, Maciejewski A, Gale N, Wilson A, Chin L, Cummings R, Le D, Pon A, Knox C, Wilson M: DrugBank 5.0: a major update to the DrugBank database for 2018. Nucleic Acids Res. 2018 Jan 4;46(D1):D1074-D1082. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkx1037.
Pubmed: 29126136
Graf WD, Chance PF, Lensch MW, Eng LJ, Lipe HP, Bird TD: Severe vincristine neuropathy in Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 1A. Cancer. 1996 Apr 1;77(7):1356-62. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1097-0142(19960401)77:7<1356::AID-CNCR20>3.0.CO;2-#.
Pubmed: 8608515
Qweider M, Gilsbach JM, Rohde V: Inadvertent intrathecal vincristine administration: a neurosurgical emergency. Case report. J Neurosurg Spine. 2007 Mar;6(3):280-3. doi: 10.3171/spi.2007.6.3.280.
Pubmed: 17355029
JOHNSON IS, ARMSTRONG JG, GORMAN M, BURNETT JP Jr: THE VINCA ALKALOIDS: A NEW CLASS OF ONCOLYTIC AGENTS. Cancer Res. 1963 Sep;23:1390-427.
Pubmed: 14070392
Gidding CE, Kellie SJ, Kamps WA, de Graaf SS: Vincristine revisited. Crit Rev Oncol Hematol. 1999 Feb;29(3):267-87. doi: 10.1016/s1040-8428(98)00023-7.
Pubmed: 10226730
Overington JP, Al-Lazikani B, Hopkins AL: How many drug targets are there? Nat Rev Drug Discov. 2006 Dec;5(12):993-6. doi: 10.1038/nrd2199.
Pubmed: 17139284
Imming P, Sinning C, Meyer A: Drugs, their targets and the nature and number of drug targets. Nat Rev Drug Discov. 2006 Oct;5(10):821-34. doi: 10.1038/nrd2132.
Pubmed: 17016423
Gan PP, McCarroll JA, Po'uha ST, Kamath K, Jordan MA, Kavallaris M: Microtubule dynamics, mitotic arrest, and apoptosis: drug-induced differential effects of betaIII-tubulin. Mol Cancer Ther. 2010 May;9(5):1339-48. doi: 10.1158/1535-7163.MCT-09-0679. Epub 2010 May 4.
Pubmed: 20442307
Ruvolo PP, Deng X, May WS: Phosphorylation of Bcl2 and regulation of apoptosis. Leukemia. 2001 Apr;15(4):515-22. doi: 10.1038/sj.leu.2402090.
Pubmed: 11368354
Brunelle JK, Letai A: Control of mitochondrial apoptosis by the Bcl-2 family. J Cell Sci. 2009 Feb 15;122(Pt 4):437-41. doi: 10.1242/jcs.031682.
Pubmed: 19193868
Tanaka S, Louie DC, Kant JA, Reed JC: Frequent incidence of somatic mutations in translocated BCL2 oncogenes of non-Hodgkin's lymphomas. Blood. 1992 Jan 1;79(1):229-37.
Pubmed: 1339299
Tsujimoto Y, Croce CM: Analysis of the structure, transcripts, and protein products of bcl-2, the gene involved in human follicular lymphoma. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1986 Jul;83(14):5214-8. doi: 10.1073/pnas.83.14.5214.
Pubmed: 3523487
Eguchi Y, Ewert DL, Tsujimoto Y: Isolation and characterization of the chicken bcl-2 gene: expression in a variety of tissues including lymphoid and neuronal organs in adult and embryo. Nucleic Acids Res. 1992 Aug 25;20(16):4187-92. doi: 10.1093/nar/20.16.4187.
Pubmed: 1508712
Wolfel T, Hauer M, Schneider J, Serrano M, Wolfel C, Klehmann-Hieb E, De Plaen E, Hankeln T, Meyer zum Buschenfelde KH, Beach D: A p16INK4a-insensitive CDK4 mutant targeted by cytolytic T lymphocytes in a human melanoma. Science. 1995 Sep 1;269(5228):1281-4. doi: 10.1126/science.7652577.
Pubmed: 7652577
Zuo L, Weger J, Yang Q, Goldstein AM, Tucker MA, Walker GJ, Hayward N, Dracopoli NC: Germline mutations in the p16INK4a binding domain of CDK4 in familial melanoma. Nat Genet. 1996 Jan;12(1):97-9. doi: 10.1038/ng0196-97.
Pubmed: 8528263
Khatib ZA, Matsushime H, Valentine M, Shapiro DN, Sherr CJ, Look AT: Coamplification of the CDK4 gene with MDM2 and GLI in human sarcomas. Cancer Res. 1993 Nov 15;53(22):5535-41.
Pubmed: 8221695
Evans MJ, Scarpulla RC: The human somatic cytochrome c gene: two classes of processed pseudogenes demarcate a period of rapid molecular evolution. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1988 Dec;85(24):9625-9. doi: 10.1073/pnas.85.24.9625.
Pubmed: 2849112
Ota T, Suzuki Y, Nishikawa T, Otsuki T, Sugiyama T, Irie R, Wakamatsu A, Hayashi K, Sato H, Nagai K, Kimura K, Makita H, Sekine M, Obayashi M, Nishi T, Shibahara T, Tanaka T, Ishii S, Yamamoto J, Saito K, Kawai Y, Isono Y, Nakamura Y, Nagahari K, Murakami K, Yasuda T, Iwayanagi T, Wagatsuma M, Shiratori A, Sudo H, Hosoiri T, Kaku Y, Kodaira H, Kondo H, Sugawara M, Takahashi M, Kanda K, Yokoi T, Furuya T, Kikkawa E, Omura Y, Abe K, Kamihara K, Katsuta N, Sato K, Tanikawa M, Yamazaki M, Ninomiya K, Ishibashi T, Yamashita H, Murakawa K, Fujimori K, Tanai H, Kimata M, Watanabe M, Hiraoka S, Chiba Y, Ishida S, Ono Y, Takiguchi S, Watanabe S, Yosida M, Hotuta T, Kusano J, Kanehori K, Takahashi-Fujii A, Hara H, Tanase TO, Nomura Y, Togiya S, Komai F, Hara R, Takeuchi K, Arita M, Imose N, Musashino K, Yuuki H, Oshima A, Sasaki N, Aotsuka S, Yoshikawa Y, Matsunawa H, Ichihara T, Shiohata N, Sano S, Moriya S, Momiyama H, Satoh N, Takami S, Terashima Y, Suzuki O, Nakagawa S, Senoh A, Mizoguchi H, Goto Y, Shimizu F, Wakebe H, Hishigaki H, Watanabe T, Sugiyama A, Takemoto M, Kawakami B, Yamazaki M, Watanabe K, Kumagai A, Itakura S, Fukuzumi Y, Fujimori Y, Komiyama M, Tashiro H, Tanigami A, Fujiwara T, Ono T, Yamada K, Fujii Y, Ozaki K, Hirao M, Ohmori Y, Kawabata A, Hikiji T, Kobatake N, Inagaki H, Ikema Y, Okamoto S, Okitani R, Kawakami T, Noguchi S, Itoh T, Shigeta K, Senba T, Matsumura K, Nakajima Y, Mizuno T, Morinaga M, Sasaki M, Togashi T, Oyama M, Hata H, Watanabe M, Komatsu T, Mizushima-Sugano J, Satoh T, Shirai Y, Takahashi Y, Nakagawa K, Okumura K, Nagase T, Nomura N, Kikuchi H, Masuho Y, Yamashita R, Nakai K, Yada T, Nakamura Y, Ohara O, Isogai T, Sugano S: Complete sequencing and characterization of 21,243 full-length human cDNAs. Nat Genet. 2004 Jan;36(1):40-5. doi: 10.1038/ng1285. Epub 2003 Dec 21.
Pubmed: 14702039
Bechtel S, Rosenfelder H, Duda A, Schmidt CP, Ernst U, Wellenreuther R, Mehrle A, Schuster C, Bahr A, Blocker H, Heubner D, Hoerlein A, Michel G, Wedler H, Kohrer K, Ottenwalder B, Poustka A, Wiemann S, Schupp I: The full-ORF clone resource of the German cDNA Consortium. BMC Genomics. 2007 Oct 31;8:399. doi: 10.1186/1471-2164-8-399.
Pubmed: 17974005
Breuss M, Heng JI, Poirier K, Tian G, Jaglin XH, Qu Z, Braun A, Gstrein T, Ngo L, Haas M, Bahi-Buisson N, Moutard ML, Passemard S, Verloes A, Gressens P, Xie Y, Robson KJ, Rani DS, Thangaraj K, Clausen T, Chelly J, Cowan NJ, Keays DA: Mutations in the beta-tubulin gene TUBB5 cause microcephaly with structural brain abnormalities. Cell Rep. 2012 Dec 27;2(6):1554-62. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2012.11.017. Epub 2012 Dec 13.
Pubmed: 23246003
Isrie M, Breuss M, Tian G, Hansen AH, Cristofoli F, Morandell J, Kupchinsky ZA, Sifrim A, Rodriguez-Rodriguez CM, Dapena EP, Doonanco K, Leonard N, Tinsa F, Moortgat S, Ulucan H, Koparir E, Karaca E, Katsanis N, Marton V, Vermeesch JR, Davis EE, Cowan NJ, Keays DA, Van Esch H: Mutations in Either TUBB or MAPRE2 Cause Circumferential Skin Creases Kunze Type. Am J Hum Genet. 2015 Dec 3;97(6):790-800. doi: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2015.10.014.
Pubmed: 26637975
Lee MG, Lewis SA, Wilde CD, Cowan NJ: Evolutionary history of a multigene family: an expressed human beta-tubulin gene and three processed pseudogenes. Cell. 1983 Jun;33(2):477-87. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(83)90429-4.
Pubmed: 6688039
Zakut-Houri R, Bienz-Tadmor B, Givol D, Oren M: Human p53 cellular tumor antigen: cDNA sequence and expression in COS cells. EMBO J. 1985 May;4(5):1251-5.
Pubmed: 4006916
Lamb P, Crawford L: Characterization of the human p53 gene. Mol Cell Biol. 1986 May;6(5):1379-85. doi: 10.1128/mcb.6.5.1379.
Pubmed: 2946935
Harlow E, Williamson NM, Ralston R, Helfman DM, Adams TE: Molecular cloning and in vitro expression of a cDNA clone for human cellular tumor antigen p53. Mol Cell Biol. 1985 Jul;5(7):1601-10. doi: 10.1128/mcb.5.7.1601.
Pubmed: 3894933
Harper JW, Adami GR, Wei N, Keyomarsi K, Elledge SJ: The p21 Cdk-interacting protein Cip1 is a potent inhibitor of G1 cyclin-dependent kinases. Cell. 1993 Nov 19;75(4):805-16. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(93)90499-g.
Pubmed: 8242751
el-Deiry WS, Tokino T, Velculescu VE, Levy DB, Parsons R, Trent JM, Lin D, Mercer WE, Kinzler KW, Vogelstein B: WAF1, a potential mediator of p53 tumor suppression. Cell. 1993 Nov 19;75(4):817-25. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(93)90500-p.
Pubmed: 8242752
Xiong Y, Hannon GJ, Zhang H, Casso D, Kobayashi R, Beach D: p21 is a universal inhibitor of cyclin kinases. Nature. 1993 Dec 16;366(6456):701-4. doi: 10.1038/366701a0.
Pubmed: 8259214
Highlighted elements will appear in red.
Highlight Compounds
Highlight Proteins
Enter relative concentration values (without units). Elements will be highlighted in a color gradient where red = lowest concentration and green = highest concentration. For the best results, view the pathway in Black and White.
Visualize Compound Data
Visualize Protein Data
Downloads
Settings