Amrubicin is a novel, completely synthetic 9-aminoanthracycline derivative. Amrubicin and its C-13 alcohol metabolite, amrubicinol, inhibited purified human DNA topoisomerase II (topo II). Compared with doxorubicin (DXR), amrubicin and amrubicinol induced extensive DNA-protein complex formation and double-strand DNA breaks in CCRF-CEM cells and KU-2 cells. In this study, we found that ICRF-193, a topo II catalytic inhibitor, antagonized both DNA-protein complex formation and double-strand DNA breaks induced by amrubicin and amrubicinol. Coordinately, cell growth inhibition induced by amrubicin and amrubicinol, but not that induced by DXR, was antagonized by ICRF-193. Taken together, these findings indicate that the cell growthinhibitory effects of amrubicin and amrubicinol are due to DNA-protein complex formation followed by double-strand DNA breaks, which are mediated by topo II.Key words: Amrubicin -Anthracycline -DNA-protein complex -Double-strand DNA break -DNA topoisomerase II DNA topoisomerase II (topo II) is a nuclear enzyme that regulates DNA topology through strand breakage, strand passage and religation. Thus, topo II is extensively involved in DNA metabolism, including replication, transcription, recombination and sister chromatid segregation.1) Mammalian topo II is the primary cellular target of a number of potent antitumor agents such as doxorubicin (DXR), daunorubicin (DNR), etoposide and amsacrine (m-AMSA).2) These agents interfere with the breakagereunion reaction of topo II by trapping a covalent enzyme-DNA complex, termed "cleavable complex," in which DNA strands are broken and their 5′ termini are covalently linked to the protein. In general, the cytotoxicity of these topo II poisons is dependent on stabilization of the cleavable complex followed by topo II-mediated DNA damage, rather than inactivation of topo II cellular functions.
3)Amrubicin is a novel, completely synthetic 9-aminoanthracycline derivative, and has antitumor activities in murine experimental tumor systems and human tumornude mouse systems. 4,5) Like other anthracycline derivatives, such as DXR and DNR, amrubicin is converted to its C-13 alcohol metabolite, amrubicinol.6) In contrast to doxorubicinol and daunorubicinol, amrubicinol has much higher antitumor activity than the parent drug in vitro.
6, 7)In addition, amrubicin showed much weaker cardiotoxicity than DXR in a rabbit chronic experimental model.
8)Phase II clinical trials of amrubicin for the treatment of malignant lymphoma, superficial bladder, small cell lung carcinoma, and non-small cell lung carcinoma are in progress. 9,10) Amrubicin showed substantial activity (response rate of 25%) against non-small cell lung cancer, and a response rate of 78.8% was obtained against small cell lung cancer.The mechanisms underlying the antitumor activities of amrubicin and amrubicinol are not well understood. Our present study has shown that amrubicin and amrubicinol target human topo II by stabilizing the cleavable complex. Furthermore, amrubicin and amrubicinol induced DNApro...