Merbarone is a catalytic inhibitor of topoisomerase II that is in clinical trials as an anticancer agent. Despite the potential therapeutic value of this drug, the mechanism by which it blocks topoisomerase II activity has not been delineated. Therefore, to determine the mechanistic basis for the inhibitory action of merbarone, the effects of this drug on individual steps of the catalytic cycle of human topoisomerase II␣ were assessed. Concentrations of merbarone that inhibited catalytic activity >80% had no effect on either enzyme⅐DNA binding or ATP hydrolysis. In contrast, the drug was a potent inhibitor of enzyme-mediated DNA scission (in the absence or presence of ATP), and the inhibitory profiles of merbarone for DNA cleavage and relaxation were similar. These data indicate that merbarone acts primarily by blocking topoisomerase II-mediated DNA cleavage. Merbarone inhibited DNA scission in a global (rather than site-specific) fashion but did not appear to intercalate into DNA or bind in the minor groove. Since the drug competed with etoposide (a cleavage-enhancing agent that binds directly to topoisomerase II), it is proposed that merbarone exerts its inhibitory effects through interactions with the enzyme and that the drug shares an interaction domain on topoisomerase II with cleavage-enhancing agents.Topoisomerase II is the target for some of the most active anticancer drugs used in the treatment of human malignancies (1-6). Among the topoisomerase II-targeted agents currently in clinical use are etoposide, teniposide, doxorubicin, mitoxantrone, and amsacrine. These drugs kill cells in an unusual fashion. Rather than inhibiting the overall catalytic activity of the type II enzyme, they act by increasing levels of topoisomerase II-mediated DNA cleavage, thus converting this essential enzyme into a potent cellular toxin (1, 3, 5, 7-10). Hence, to distinguish their unique mechanism of action, they are referred to as topoisomerase II "poisons" (11).A second class of drugs that affect the activity of topoisomerase II also appears to have clinical potential (2, 5, 7). In contrast to poisons, these agents act by inhibiting the catalytic activity of the enzyme and display no ability to stimulate DNA cleavage. Originally, topoisomerase II "catalytic inhibitors" were defined by antibacterial compounds such as novobiocin and coumermycin (12). These coumarin-based drugs block the DNA strand passage activity of the prokaryotic type II enzyme, DNA gyrase, by interfering with the ability of the enzyme to bind its ATP cofactor (13-17).Recently, catalytic inhibitors that display high activity against eukaryotic type II topoisomerases have been described. These are typified by drugs such as merbarone (18), aclarubicin (20), fostriecin (21), staurosporine (22), and mitindomide (23), which reflect a variety of inhibitory mechanisms. Aclarubicin, for example, blocks binding of the enzyme to its DNA substrate, the initial step of the topoisomerase II catalytic cycle (24) (see Fig. 12). In contrast, ICRF-193 blocks the final s...