Role of DNA-binding in the cytotoxicity of an anthracycline, R20X2 and its morpholino analog, MX2.

3'-Deamino-3'-morpholino-13-deoxo-10-hydroxycarminomycin (MX2), a morpholino anthracycline derived from 13-deoxo-10-hydroxycarminomycin (R20X2) was 16 times less cytotoxic than R20X2 against cultured P388 leukemia cells. The reduced cytotoxicity of MX2 was not explainable by intracellular or intranuclear concentration of the drug or by its DNA-intercalating activity. Binding of MX2 and R20X2 to DNA was measured, after isolating the DNA fraction from an incubation mixture of the drugs with P388 cells or with calf thymus DNA. The amount of R20X2 bound to the DNA was obviously larger than that of MX2, and was dependent on incubation time. These data suggest that the poor binding activity of MX2 to DNA contributes to its reduced cytotoxicity.