We have previously reported that many ingenol compounds derived from Euphorbia kansui exhibit topoisomerase (topo) II inhibitory activity. Of these compounds, 3EZ,20Ac-ingenol inhibited topo I activity. Camptothecin, which inhibits the religation activity of topo I without interfering with the binding of topo I to DNA and induces topo I-mediated DNA cleavage, was used as a positive control. In this study, we found that 3EZ,20Ac-ingenol did not hamper the binding of topo I to DNA in the same manner as camptothecin but affected the inhibition of cleavage of one DNA strand. 3EZ,20Ac-ingenol inhibited cell proliferation by blocking cell cycle progression in the G2/M phase. To define the mechanism of inhibition of DT40 cell proliferation, the change in Akt activity was observed because Akt activity is regulated in response to DNA damage. Western blot analysis revealed that 3EZ,20Ac-ingenol downregulated the expression of p-Akt, and apoptosis was detected by the presence of DNA double-strand breaks and caspase 3 activation.

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We previously reported that many ingenol compounds derived from Euphoria kansui exhibit topoisomerase inhibitory activity. 20-O-ingenolEZ in these compounds exerted inhibitory effects on both topoisomerase II (topo II) activity and cell proliferative activity. Topoisomerase II inhibitors can be divided into the poison and catalytic inhibitor types and 20-O-ingenolEZ is a catalytic inhibitor and inhibits topo IIα through inhibition of ATPase activity, but induces topo II-mediated DNA damage and apoptosis in BLM^-/- DT40 cells through the induction of the DNA damage checkpoint, similar to the poison type inhibitor adriamycin. The ATPase inhibitor of topo II ICRF-193 also showed poison-like characteristics in the same cell line. However, the inhibitory effects of ICRF-193 on the proliferation of BLM^-/- DT40 cells differed from those of 20-O-ingenolEZ, as did the specificity of its inhibition of the proliferation of other cell lines. 20-O-ingenolEZ showed hypersensitive inhibition of the proliferation of MCF-7 cells and BLM^-/- DT40 cells with mutated DNA repair-related genes