Z. are inventors of two pending patent applications for use of BCL-X L PROTACs as senolytic and antitumor agents. R.H., G.Z., and D.Z. are co-founders of and have equity in Dialectic Therapeutics, which develops BCL-X L PROTACs to treat cancer.

Topoisomerases are nuclear enzymes that play essential roles in DNA replication, transcription, chromosome segregation, and recombination. All cells have two major forms of topoisomerases: type I, which makes single-stranded cuts in DNA, and type II enzymes, which cut and pass double-stranded DNA. DNA topoisomerases are important targets of approved and experimental anti-cancer agents. The protocols described in this unit are of assays used to assess new chemical entities for their ability to inhibit both forms of DNA topoisomerase. Included are an in vitro assay for topoisomerase I activity based on relaxation of supercoiled DNA and an assay for topoisomerase II based on the decatenation of double-stranded DNA. The preparation of mammalian cell extracts for assaying topoisomerase activity is described, along with a protocol for an ICE assay for examining topoisomerase covalent complexes in vivo and an assay for measuring DNA cleavage in vitro.

Topoisomerase II (Top2) is an essential enzyme that resolves catenanes between sister chromatids as well as supercoils associated with the over- or under-winding of duplex DNA. Top2 alters DNA topology by making a double-strand break (DSB) in DNA and passing an intact duplex through the break. Each component monomer of the Top2 homodimer nicks one of the DNA strands and forms a covalent phosphotyrosyl bond with the 5′ end. Stabilization of this intermediate by chemotherapeutic drugs such as etoposide leads to persistent and potentially toxic DSBs. We describe the isolation of a yeast top2 mutant (top2-F1025Y,R1128G) the product of which generates a stabilized cleavage intermediate in vitro. In yeast cells, overexpression of the top2-F1025Y,R1128G allele is associated with a mutation signature that is characterized by de novo duplications of DNA sequence that depend on the nonhomologous end-joining pathway of DSB repair. Top2-associated duplications are promoted by the clean removal of the enzyme from DNA ends and are suppressed when the protein is removed as part of an oligonucleotide. TOP2 cells treated with etoposide exhibit the same mutation signature, as do cells that overexpress the wild-type protein. These results have implications for genome evolution and are relevant to the clinical use of chemotherapeutic drugs that target Top2.