Effects of 9-OH-ellipticine on cell survival, macromolecular syntheses, and cell cycle progression in sensitive and resistant Chinese hamster lung cells.

In an effort to understand the mechanism of action of the DNA-intercalating antitumor agent 9-hydroxyellipticine (9-OH-E), we have examined the effects of this drug on the cell survival, macromolecular syntheses, and cell cycle progression in sensitive and resistant cells. Our results show that 9-OH-E toxicity on sensitive and resistant cells involves different mechanisms of action: the drug toxicity in the sensitive cells appears to result from lethal lesions mediated through the interaction of the drug with an intracellular protein, independently of any effect of the drug on the macromolecular syntheses; in the resistant cells, the cell death occurs concomitantly with the inhibition of these syntheses. Cell cycle progression analysis after 9-OH-E treatment showed that, in the sensitive cells, the drug is inducing a G1 and a G2 block, which are both released in the presence of 1 mM caffeine, without any effect on the 9-OH-E toxicity. In the resistant cells, a G2 block was also observed but only when the cells were resuming their growth after about a 30- to 40-h growth arrest. Caffeine release of this block, which again had no effect on 9-OH-E toxicity, was only observed when it was added from 40 to 60 h after 9-OH-E treatment, when the cells resumed their growth. Finally in the sensitive cells, cycloheximide exerted an inhibitory effect on 9-OH-E toxicity when it was added before and during the cell exposure to the drug. This effect was interpreted as indicating that 9-OH-E toxicity in the sensitive cells relies on a protein which is not induced by the drug but has to be present in the cells when the drug is added. The possible implication of DNA topoisomerases in 9-OH-E toxicity mechanism is discussed.