Phenylglyoxal (PG), which reacts specifically and exclusively with arginine moieties in protein and does not enter the cell, inhibits HeLa cell growth, as demonstrated both by colony-growth and cell-accumulation experiments. Exposure of synchronized cells to PG shows that this inhibition is confined to the S, G2, and M phases of the cell cycle, since, in the presence of PG, G1-phase cells are able to enter S phase, whereas DNA synthesis is depressed in S-phase cells, G2-phase cells do not enter mitosis, and mitotic cells do not progress through the mitotic cycle.

Therefore, PG appears to inhibit growth by masking arginine moieties in a protein exposed at the cell surface.

1

This investigation was supported in full by Research Grant 5 ROI CA 12833-01 and -02 from the NIH.

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©1974 American Association for Cancer Research.
1974
Cancer Research, Inc.