Effects of protein tyrosine kinase inhibitors with different modes of action on topoisomerase activity and death of IL-2-dependent CTLL-2 cells.

We studied the effects of protein tyrosine kinase inhibitors with different modes of action on topoisomerase activity and cell death in CTLL-2 cells, whose growth is IL-2-dependent. The Flavonoids genistein, biochanin A, and apigenin inhibited topoisomerase II to the same extent as etoposide, a specific inhibitor of the enzyme. Methyl 2,5-dihydroxycinnamate (2,5-MeC) also inhibited topoisomerase II, but was less potent than genistein. Herbimycin A and staurosporine did not inhibit topoisomerase II. None of the inhibitors of protein tyrosine kinases examined inhibited topoisomerase I activity. All the inhibitors induced cell death with internucleosomal DNA fragmentation in the presence of IL-2. Genistein, biochanin A, and apigenin induced DNA fragmentation and cell death early in the incubation period and did not alter the profiles of phosphotyrosine proteins in either the lysate or pelleted fractions, indicating that the early cell death was induced by the inhibition of topoisomerase II activity rather than by the inhibition of protein tyrosine kinase activity. 2,5-MeC similarly induced early cell death and DNA fragmentation, but to a lesser extent than genistein presumably due to the inhibition of topoisomerase II activity. Herbimycin A induced a slow increase in DNA fragmentation and cell death, accompanied by a decrease in phosphotyrosine proteins in the pelleted fraction, suggesting that the inhibition of protein tyrosine phosphorylation, presumably of the nuclear proteins, is related to cell death and DNA fragmentation. Staurosporine-induced DNA fragmentation appeared to be due to mechanism(s) other than the inhibition of topoisomerases and protein tyrosine kinases, since it neither altered the profiles of phosphotyrosine proteins nor inhibited topoisomerase activity.