Altered topoisomerase I activity and recombination activating gene expression in a human leukemia cell line resistant to doxorubicin.

We examined the expression of the genes encoding topoisomerases I and II and those associated with V(D)J [variable(diversity)joining] recombination in two human T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T.ALL) cell lines, CEM and CEM/DOX. In CEM/DOX cells, which are resistant to doxorubicin, the topoisomerase I gene was found to be 4-fold overexpressed and nuclear topoisomerase I relaxation activity was 2-fold greater in CEM/DOX than in CEM cells. Furthermore, the cleavable complex reaction induced by camptothecin, a specific topoisomerase I inhibitor, was found to be 2.5-increased in the presence of topoisomerase I extracted from CEM/DOX, in comparison to that in CEM cells. Conversely, the topoisomerase II mRNA levels, nuclear decatenation activities and (mAMSA) 4'(9-acridinylamino)methanesulfon-m-anisidide-induced cleavable complex formation in CEM/DOX were similar to those of the doxorubicin-sensitive cells. The results indicate that topoisomerase I activity is elevated in CEM/DOX cells. Nevertheless, CEM/DOX cells were 11-fold more resistant to camptothecin than were CEM cells, and cross-resistance to camptothecin was not reversed by verapamil. Furthermore, using an intact cell assay for DNA-protein complexes, we found that camptothecin-stimulated cleavable complexes formed in CEM/DOX cells were increased in correlation with the elevated topoisomerase I activity. These results suggest that camptothecin resistance in CEM/DOX cells is due to different mechanism(s) than topoisomerase- or P-glycoprotein-associated multidrug resistance. The recombination activating gene, RAG1, which is one of the components of the site-specific V(D)J recombination complex, was 20-fold overexpressed in CEM/DOX cells. In contrast, RAG2 and T160 gene transcripts, other components of the V(D)J complex, were at best poorly detected in both sensitive and resistant cells. No specific V(D)J recombinase activity was found in CEM or CEM/DOX cells when the pJH201 transfection assay was used. The results indicate that CEM/DOX cells failed to generate V(D)J recombination although RAG1 gene is overexpressed. The mechanism of the RAG1 gene activation was not gene amplification, and no rearrangement was detected in the RAG1 gene locus. RAG1 presents homology with the yeast gene HPR1, itself homologous to yeast topoisomerase I and responsible for the control of recombination in somatic cells. Since DNA topoisomerases are themselves involved in the control of DNA topology, recombination and DNA repair, the possible coactivation of RAG1 and topoisomerase I genes in CEM/DOX cells is discussed.