Different susceptibilities of postmitotic checkpoint-proficient and -deficient Balb / 3T3 cells to ICRF-193, a catalytic inhibitor of DNA topoisomerase II

The relationship between the molecular structure of natural acetogenins and their inhibitory activities which affect DNA polymerase, DNA topoisomerase and human cancer cell growth

Acetogenins from the Annonaceous plant are a fatty acid-derived natural product. Chemically synthesized natural acetogenins, such as mucocin (compound 1), jimenezin (compound 2), muconin (compound 4), pyranicin (compound 5) and pyragonicin (compound 6) were investigated. Concomitantly, 19-epi jimenezin (compound 3), 10-epi pyragonicin (compound 7) and a γ-lactone (compound 8), which is estimated to be a biosynthetic precursor of acetogenins, were synthesized and investigated. Compounds 5 and 6 strongly inhibited, and compound 7 moderately inhibited the activities of mammalian DNA polymerases (pols), such as replicative pol α and repair/recombination-related pol β and λ, and also inhibited human DNA topoisomerase (topos) I and II activities. On the other hand, compounds 1-4 and 8 did not influence the activities of any pols and topos. Compound 5 was the strongest inhibitor of the pols and topos tested, and the IC(50) values were 5.0-9.6 μM, respectively. These compounds also suppressed human cancer cell growth with almost the same tendency as the inhibition of pols and topos. Compound 5 was the strongest suppressor of the proliferation of the promyelocytic leukemia cell line, HL-60, in human cancer cell lines tested with an LD(50) value of 9.4 μM, and arrested the cells at G1 phases, indicating that it blocks DNA replication by inhibiting the activity of pols rather than topos. This compound also induced cell apoptosis. The relationship between the three-dimensional molecular structure of acetogenins and these inhibitory activities is discussed. The results suggested that compound 5 is a lead compound of potentially useful cancer chemotherapy agents.

Mechanism of Growth Inhibition of Human Cancer Cells by Conjugated Eicosapentaenoic Acid, an Inhibitor of DNA Polymerase and Topoisomerase

DNA topoisomerases (topos) and DNA polymerases (pols) are involved in many aspects of DNA metabolism such as replication reactions. We found that long chain unsaturated fatty acids such as polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) (i.e., eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)) inhibited the activities of eukaryotic pols and topos in vitro, and the inhibitory effect of conjugated fatty acids converted from EPA and DHA (cEPA and cDHA) on pols and topos was stronger than that of normal EPA and DHA. cEPA and cDHA did not affect the activities of plant and prokaryotic pols or other DNA metabolic enzymes tested. cEPA was a stronger inhibitor than cDHA with IC₅₀ values for mammalian pols and human topos of 11.0 – 31.8 and 0.5 – 2.5 μM, respectively. cEPA inhibited the proliferation of two human leukemia cell lines, NALM-6, which is a p53-wild type, and HL-60, which is a p53-null mutant, and the inhibitory effect was stronger than that of normal EPA. In both cell lines, cEPA arrested in the G1 phase, and increased cyclin E protein levels, indicating that it blocks the primary step of in vivo DNA replication by inhibiting the activity of replicative pols rather than topos. DNA replication-related proteins, such as RPA70, ATR and phosphorylated-Chk1/2, were increased by cEPA treatment in the cell lines, suggesting that cEPA led to DNA replication fork stress inhibiting the activities of pols and topos, and the ATR-dependent DNA damage response pathway could respond to the inhibitor of DNA replication. The compound induced cell apoptosis through both p53-dependent and p53-independent pathways in cell lines NALM-6 and HL-60, respectively. These results suggested the therapeutic potential of conjugated PUFA, such as cEPA, as a leading anti-cancer compound that inhibited pols and topos activities.

Inhibitory effect of coenzyme Q on eukaryotic DNA polymerase gamma and DNA topoisomerase II activities on the growth of a human cancer cell line

Coenzyme Q (CoQ) is an isoprenoid quinine that functions as an electron carrier in the mitochondrial respiratory chain in eukaryotes. CoQ having shorter isoprenoid chains, especially CoQ1 and CoQ2, selectively inhibited the in vitro activity of eukaryotic DNA polymerase (pol) gamma, which is a mitochondrial pol. These compounds did not influence the activities of nuclear DNA replicative pols such as alpha, delta and epsilon, and nuclear DNA repair-related pols such as beta, eta, iota, kappa and lambda. CoQ also inhibited DNA topoisomerase II (topo II) activity, although the enzymatic characteristics, including modes of action, amino acid sequences and three-dimensional structures, were markedly different from those of pol gamma. These compounds did not inhibit the activities of procaryotic pols such as Escherichia coli pol I, and other DNA metabolic enzymes such as human immunodeficiency virus reverse transcriptase, T7 RNA polymerase and bovine deoxyribonuclease I. CoQ1, which has the shortest isoprenoid chains, had the strongest inhibitory effect on pol gamma and topo II activities among CoQ1-CoQ10, with 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) values of 12.2 and 15.5 microM, respectively. CoQ1 could prevent the growth of human promyelocytic leukemia cells, HL-60, and the 50% lethal dose (LD50) value was 14.0 microM. The cells were halted at S phase and G1 phase in the cell cycle, and suppressed mitochondrial proliferation. From these results, the relationship between the inhibition of pol gamma/topo II and cancer cell growth by CoQ is discussed.

Inhibitory effect of conjugated eicosapentaenoic acid on mammalian DNA polymerase and topoisomerase activities and human cancer cell proliferation

Conjugated eicosapentaenoic acid (cEPA) selectively inhibited the activities of mammalian DNA polymerases (pols) and human DNA topoisomerases (topos) [Yonezawa Y, Tsuzuki T, Eitsuka T, Miyazawa T, Hada T, Uryu K, et al. Inhibitory effect of conjugated eicosapentaenoic acid on human DNA topoisomerases I and II. Arch Biochem Biophys 2005;435:197-206]. In this report, we investigated the inhibitory effect of cEPA on a human promyelocytic leukemia cell line, HL-60, to determine which enzymes influence cell proliferation. cEPA inhibited the proliferation of HL-60 cells (LD(50)=20.0 microM), and the inhibitory effect was stronger than that of non-conjugated EPA. cEPA arrested the cells at G1/S-phase, increased cyclin A and E protein levels, and prevented the incorporation of thymidine into the cells, indicating that it blocks the primary step of in vivo DNA replication by inhibiting the activity of replicative pols rather than topos. This compound also induced apoptosis of the cells. These results suggested the therapeutic potential of cEPA as a leading anti-cancer compound that poisons pols.

Identification of Decatenation G2 Checkpoint Impairment Independently of DNA Damage G2 Checkpoint in Human Lung Cancer Cell Lines

It has been suggested that attenuation of the decatenation G(2) checkpoint function, which ensures sufficient chromatid decatenation by topoisomerase II before entering into mitosis, may contribute to the acquisition of genetic instability in cancer cells. To date, however, very little information is available on this type of checkpoint defect in human cancers. In this study, we report for the first time that a proportion of human lung cancer cell lines did not properly arrest before entering mitosis in the presence of a catalytic, circular cramp-forming topoisomerase II inhibitor ICRF-193, whereas the decatenation G(2) checkpoint impairment was present independently of the impaired DNA damage G(2) checkpoint. In addition, the presence of decatenation G(2) checkpoint dysfunction was found to be associated with diminished activation of ataxia-telangiectasia mutated in response to ICRF-193, suggesting the potential involvement of an upstream pathway sensing incompletely catenated chromatids. Interestingly, hypersensitivity to ICRF-193 was observed in cell lines with decatenation G(2) checkpoint impairment and negligible activation of ataxia-telangiectasia mutated. These findings suggest the possible involvement of decatenation G(2) checkpoint impairment in the development of human lung cancers, as well as the potential clinical implication of selective killing of lung cancer cells with such defects by this type of topoisomerase II inhibitor.

A novel DNA topoisomerase inhibitor: dehydroebriconic acid, one of the lanostane-type triterpene acids from Poria cocos

Traditional Chinese medicinal plants are a treasure house for screening novel inhibitors of DNA polymerases and DNA topoisomerases from mammals; in the present study, nine lanostane-type triterpene acids were found in sclerotium of Poria cocos. Among the nine compounds, only dehydroebriconic acid could potently inhibit DNA topoisomerase II (topo II) activity (IC(50) = 4.6 microM), while the compound moderately inhibited the activities of DNA polymerases alpha, beta, gamma, delta, epsilon, eta, iota, kappa and lambda only from mammals, to similar extents. Another compound, dehydrotrametenonic acid, also showed moderate inhibitory effects against topo II (IC(50) = 37.5 microM) and weak effects against all the polymerases tested. Both compounds showed no inhibitory effect against topo I, higher plant (cauliflower) DNA polymerase I (alpha-like polymerase) or II (beta-like polymerase), calf thymus terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase, human immunodeficiency virus type-1 reverse transcriptase, prokaryotic DNA polymerases such as the Klenow fragment of E. coli DNA polymerase I, Taq DNA polymerase and T4 DNA polymerase, or DNA metabolic enzymes such as T 7 RNA polymerase, T4 polynucleotide kinase and bovine deoxyribonuclease I. These findings suggest that dehydroebriconic acid and dehydrotrametenonic acid should be designated as topo II-preferential inhibitors, although they also moderately inhibited all the mammalian DNA polymerases tested. Both dehydrotrametenonic acid and dehydroebriconic acid could prevent the growth of human gastric cancer cells, and their LD(50) values were 63.6 and 38.4 microM, respectively. The cells were halted at the G1 phase in the cell cycle. The relation between the structure of triterpene acids and their inhibitory activities is discussed.

Selective inhibition of the activities of both eukaryotic DNA polymerases and DNA topoisomerases by elenic acid

(R)-(-)-Elenic acid (R-2,4-dimethyl-22-(p-hydroxyphenyl)-docos-3(E)-enoic acid) (EA) is a DNA topoisomerase II inhibitor found in an Indonesian sponge, Plakinastrella sp. We found and report here that it is a potent inhibitor of calf DNA polymerase alpha (IC(50)=7.7 microM) and rat DNA polymerase beta (IC(50)=12.9 microM). EA did not bind to DNA directly. EA did not influence the activities of DNA polymerases such as plant DNA polymerases I and II and prokaryotic DNA polymerases such as Escherichia coli DNA polymerase I, or other DNA metabolic enzymes such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) reverse transcriptase, T7 RNA polymerase and bovine deoxyribonuclease I. Interestingly, EA was also an inhibitor of DNA topoisomerases I and II, although the enzymatic characteristics including modes of action, amino acid sequences and three-dimensional structures were markedly different from those of DNA polymerases. EA could prevent the growth of NUGC-3 cancer cells, and the LD(50) value was 22.5 microM. The cells were halted at G1 and G2/M phase in the cell cycle. From these results, the action mode of EA is discussed.