fostriecin and Leukemia

Etoposide (VP-16)-resistant K562 cells (K/VP.5) were 26-fold resistant to VP-16, due in part to a reduction in DNA topoisomerase II (topoisomerase II) protein levels. Compared with parental K562 cells, VP-16-resistant K/VP.5 cells were found to be 3.4-fold more sensitive to the effects of dexrazoxane (ICRF-187), a topoisomerase II inhibitor that does not stabilize topoisomerase II-DNA covalent complexes. In contrast, K/VP.5 cells were 4.0-fold cross-resistant to merbarone and showed no cross-resistance to fostriecin, two other topoisomerase II inhibitors that do not stabilize topoisomerase II-DNA covalent complexes. Preincubation with ICRF-187 resulted in greater inhibition of subsequent VP-16-induced topoisomerase II-DNA covalent complexes in K/VP.5 cells than in K562 cells. Conversely, preincubation with merbarone resulted in less inhibition of VP-16-induced topoisomerase II-DNA covalent complexes in K/VP.5 cells than in parental K562 cells. Preincubation with forstriecin had little effect on VP-16-induced topoisomerase II-DNA covalent complex formation in either cell line. The onset rates for ICRF-187 inhibition of VP-16-induced topoisomerase II-DNA complex formation were similar in sensitive and resistant cells. In addition, ICRF-187 had a comparable concentration-dependent inhibitory effect on the topoisomerase II catalytic activities of K562 and K/VP.5 cells. Together, our results indicate that collateral sensitivity to ICRF-187 in K/VP.5 cells is due to decreased topoisomerase II protein levels rather than to an alteration in topoisomerase II activity. Furthermore, results suggest that ICRF-187, merbarone, and fostriecin have different mechanisms of action that can be studied effectively in K/VP.5 and K562 cells.

Topics: Alkenes; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Enzyme Inhibitors; Etoposide; Humans; Leukemia; Polyenes; Pyrones; Razoxane; Thiobarbiturates

A new flow cytometric method is described to detect DNA strand breaks associated with apoptosis, by labeling the 3'-OH termini in the breaks with biotinylated dUTP in a reaction employing exogenous terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase. The method has been applied in studies on leukemic HL-60 and MOLT-4 cell lines to reveal whether it is specific to apoptotic cells, and whether it can be used in the clinic to detect DNA breakage in leukemic cells during chemotherapy. There was labeling of mononuclear cells in peripheral blood of all 11 patients studied during chemotherapy for acute lymphoblastic, acute myelogenous, or chronic myelogenous leukemia (ALL, AML, or CML) in blastic crisis, indicating induced DNA damage; the number of labeled cells increased from 1-8% before treatment up to 80% during the course of treatment. The DNA topoisomerase inhibitors mitoxantrone, VP-16 (etoposide), and m-AMSA (amsacrine) were more effective in inducing DNA breaks than was hydroxyurea or cytosine arabinoside (AraC). Cells with DNA breaks were identified in peripheral blood for up to 5 days following administration of Mitoxantrone and VP-16. In the case of DNA aneuploid leukemias, the DNA breaks were predominant in the aneuploid cell subpopulations, whereas presumably non-neoplastic diploid cells were unlabeled. In one case of ALL there were two distinct subpopulations of aneuploid cells: one responded to the treatment (by DNA breakage) and the other was non-responding. Thus, cells undergoing apoptosis can be detected by this method of labeling DNA strand breaks and the technique is applicable for analysis of response of leukemic cells to chemotherapy. With this method it may be possible to identify tumor cell sensitivity or resistance to particular drugs early in the course of treatment.

Topics: Adult; Aged; Alkenes; Antineoplastic Agents; Apoptosis; Camptothecin; DNA Damage; DNA Nucleotidylexotransferase; DNA, Neoplasm; Gamma Rays; Humans; In Vitro Techniques; Leukemia; Male; Middle Aged; Polyenes; Pyrones; Tumor Cells, Cultured

The antitumor drug fostriecin (phosphotrienin, FST) has been reported to exert its cytostatic and cytotoxic effects via inhibition of DNA topoisomerase II. The sensitivity of human lymphocytic leukemic MOLT-4 and promyelocytic HL-60 leukemic cells to a wide range of FST concentrations was studied by analyzing the cell cycle-specific effects and changes in nuclear chromatin induced by this inhibitor. The latter was evaluated by assaying the sensitivity of DNA in situ to acid-induced denaturation cytofluorimetrically, with the use of the metachromatic fluorochrome acridine orange (AO), which differentially stains double-stranded and denatured DNA. The cytostatic effects were observed soon after addition of FST (at concentrations of 1-30 microM for MOLT-4 cultures and 1-5 microM for HL-60 cultures) as a perturbation of cell progression through S and G2 phases of the cell cycle. Cell progression through the cycle was halted at greater than 30 microM FST in MOLT-4 cultures and at greater than 5 microM in HL-60 cultures; the effect was instantaneous and affected all phases of the cycle, so that no changes in the cell cycle distribution were apparent with increasing length of exposure to the drug. Instead, at these high FST concentrations, immediate cytotoxic effects became evident, manifesting either as cell apoptosis or necrosis. Apoptosis was observed only in the case of HL-60 cells, at FST concentrations of 5-100 microM, and was characterized by markedly increased sensitivity of DNA to denaturation combined with a decrease in overall DNA stainability, either with the DNA-specific dye DAPI or with AO, indicative of the activation of endogenous nucleases. Necrotic cell death was observed at FST concentrations of 1 mM and at greater than 30 microM for HL-60 and MOLT-4 cells, respectively: in both cases the overall DNA stainability, with either DAPI or AO, was unchanged compared to the control, but their DNA was very sensitive to denaturation. Interestingly, DNA in G2 and late S phase MOLT-4 cells, which were undergoing necrotic death, was much more sensitive to denaturation than was DNA in G1 cells of this lineage. The data indicate that chromatin changes induced by DNA topoisomerase II inhibitors in cells that undergo apoptotic or necrotic death can be conveniently monitored by the assay of DNA in situ sensitivity to denaturation.

Topics: Acridine Orange; Alkenes; Cell Death; Cell Line; Cell Nucleus; Chromatin; G2 Phase; Humans; Leukemia; Polyenes; Pyrones; S Phase; Topoisomerase II Inhibitors; Tumor Cells, Cultured