A dual topoisomerase inhibitor, TAS-103, induces apoptosis in human cancer cells.

TAS-103 (6-[[2-(dimethylamino)ethyl]amino]-3-hydroxy-7H-indeno[2,1-c] quinolin-7-one dihydrochloride), a dual topoisomerase (topo) inhibitor, was developed as an anticancer agent by targeting topo I and topo II and has previously been shown to be effective against lung tumors. In this study, we investigated the cytotoxic activity of TAS-103 in various human cancer cell lines (including gastric, colon, squamous, lung, and breast cancer cells) and the induction of apoptosis by TAS-103. We next established stable transfectants of Bcl-2 in the gastric cancer cell line AZ521 and found that Bcl-2 blocked TAS-103-induced apoptosis. In addition, we demonstrated that the activities of ICE-like and CPP32-like proteases are involved in the signal transduction pathway of TAS-103-induced apoptosis. In summary, TAS-103 is a novel type of anticancer agent with a unique mechanism and could be useful as a lead compound for development of new drugs.