Salvicine, a novel topoisomerase II inhibitor, exerts its potent anticancer activity by ROS generation.

Salvicine is a novel diterpenoid quinone compound obtained by structural modification of a natural product lead isolated from a Chinese herb with potent growth inhibitory activity against a wide spectrum of human tumor cells in vitro and in mice bearing human tumor xenografts. Salvicine has also been found to have a profound cytotoxic effect on multidrug-resisitant (MDR) cells. Moreover, Salvicine significantly reduced the lung metastatic foci of MDA-MB-435 orthotopic xenograft. Recent studies demonstrated that salvicine is a novel non-intercalative topoisomerase II (Topo II) poison by binding to the ATPase domain, promoting DNA-Topo II binding and inhibiting Topo II-mediated DNA relegation and ATP hydrolysis. Further studies have indicated that salcivine-elicited ROS plays a central role in salvicine-induced cellular response including Topo II inhibition, DNA damage, circumventing MDR and tumor cell adhesion inhibition.