Dissociation between bulk damage to DNA and the antiproliferative activity of teniposide (VM-26) in the MCF-7 breast tumor cell line: evidence for induction of gene-specific damage and alterations in gene expression.

In the MCF-7 breast tumor cell line, induction of bulk damage to DNA (measured either as total strand breaks or as double-strand breaks) fails to correspond with the antiproliferative activity of the demethylepipodo-phyllotoxin derivative, VM-26. In contrast, VM-26 produces an early (within 2-3 h) concentration-dependent reduction in c-myc expression (and of DNA synthesis) which parallels inhibition of cell growth, suggesting the possibility of effects of VM-26 at the level of genomic regions which regulate DNA replicative function. Although VM-26 also produces a reduction in c-myc expression in K562 human leukemic cells, these alterations fail to correspond with the concentration-dependent effects on cell growth in this cell line. Utilizing the newly developed alkaline unwinding/Southern blotting assay in the MCF-7 breast tumor cell line, it was determined that VM-26 induces damage within regions surrounding the c-myc gene and the beta-globin gene which exceeds that induced in both alpha-satellite DNA and in L1 repeat sequences; damage within c-myc and beta-globin also exceeds that observed throughout the genome as a whole. These findings indicate that certain genomic regions incur preferential damage in MCF-7 cells exposed to VM-26. It appears possible that damage within such genomic regions could lead to alterations in expression of select genes associated with regulation of cellular proliferation, resulting in reduced DNA synthesis, compromised cell growth, and, ultimately, cell death.