Transfection of 9-hydroxyellipticine-resistant Chinese hamster fibroblastswith human topoisomerase II alpha cDNA: Selective restoration of the sensitivity to DNA religation inhibitors

In the Chinese hamster lung cell line DC-3F/9-OH-E, selected for resistance to 9-OH-ellipticine and cross-resistant to other topoisomerase II inhibito rs, the amount of topoisomerase II alpha is 4-5-fold lower than in the pare ntal DC-3F cells, whereas topoisomerase II beta is undetectable. Cloning an d sequencing of topoisomerase II alpha cDNAs from DC-3F and DC-3F/9-OH-E ce lls revealed an allele polymorphism, one allele differing from the other by the presence of seven silent mutations and three mutations in the noncodin g region. In addition, the mutated allele contains three missense mutations located close to the ATP binding site (Thr371Ser) or to the catalytic site (Ala751Gly; IIe863Thr), To analyze the contribution of these topoisomerase II alpha alterations to their resistance phenotype, DC-3F/9-OH-E cells wer e transfected with an eukaryotic expression vector containing the human top oisomerase II alpha cDNA, In one transfected clone, the amount of topoisome rase IIa isoform and the catalytic activity were similar to that in the par ental DC-3F cells. These cells, which contain only topoisomerase II alpha, are then a unique mammalian cell line to analyze the physiological and phar macological properties of this enzyme. However, the restoration of a nearly normal topoisomerase II alpha activity in the DC-3F/9-OH-E cells did not h ave the same effect on their sensitivity to different enzyme inhibitors; a 75% reversion of the resistance, associated with a 2-3-fold increased stabi lization of the cleavable complex, was observed with both etoposide and m-A MSA, two drugs that inhibit the DNA religation step in the enzyme catalytic cycle; in contrast, the transfected cells remained fully resistant to elli pticine derivatives that did not induce the stabilization of the cleavable complex. We hypothesized that a trans-acting factor, inhibiting the inducti on of cleavable complex formation by drugs that are not religation inhibito rs, might be present in the resistant cells. However, such a factor was not detected in in vitro experiments, and other hypotheses are discussed.