The antitumor anthracyclines doxorubicin and daunorubicin do not inhibit cell growth through the formation of ironmediated reactive oxygen species

The use of the anthracycline anticancer drugs doxorubicin and daunorubicin is limited by what is thought to be an iron-based oxygen radical-derived dose-dependent cardiotoxicity. The anthracyclines are also DNA topoisomerase (Topo) II poisons. It is not known if iron-mediated formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) by the anthracyclines or their Topo II inhibitory effects are responsible for their cell growth-inhibitory effects. Experiments to test these two alternatives were carried out using a CHO-derived cell line (DZR) that was highly resistant to dexrazoxane through a Thr48IIe mutation in Topo IIalpha. The clinically used cardioprotective agent dexrazoxane likely exerts its cardioprotective effects through the chelating ability of its hydrolysis product ADR-925, an analog of EDTA. Dexrazoxane is also a cell growth inhibitor that acts through its ability to inhibit the catalytic activity of Topo II. Thus, the DZR cell line allowed us to examine the cell growth-inhibitory effects of doxorubicin and daunorubicin in the presence of dexrazoxane without the confounding effect of dexrazoxane inhibiting cell growth. The growth-inhibitory effects of neither doxorubicin nor daunorubicin were affected by pretreating DZR cells with dexrazoxane. In contrast, under similar conditions, dexrazoxane strongly protected rat cardiac myocytes from doxorubicin-induced lactate dehydrogenase release. In conclusion, the anthracyclines do not inhibit the growth of DZR cells through the generation of iron-mediated formation of ROS. (C) 2005 Lippincott Williams Wilkins.