Antitumor agents, 130, Novel 4 beta-arylamino derivatives of 3',4'-didemethoxy-3',4'-dioxo-4-deoxypodophyllotoxin as potent inhibitors of human DNA topoisomerase II.

A series of ortho-quinone analogues 1-28 of podophyllotoxin possessing various C-4 beta-aniline moieties have been synthesized and evaluated for their inhibitory activity against human DNA topoisomerase II, their activity in causing cellular protein-linked DNA breakage, and their cytotoxicity against KB cells. Compounds 8-12, 15, 19, and 23-28 are better than or comparable to etoposide in their inhibition of the human DNA topoisomerase II, while compounds 8-10 and 22 are comparable to or more potent than etoposide in causing DNA breakage. There is an apparent lack of correlation between cytotoxicity and the ability of these compounds to cause protein-linked DNA breaks or inhibit DNA topoisomerase II. This suggests that in addition to the mechanism of the topoisomerase II involving DNA breakages, other mechanisms of action, such as the radical mechanism or the direct adduct formation of the ortho-quinone with DNA or protein, may also involve and account for the apparent KB cytotoxicity. Two different modes of DNA topoisomerase II inhibition for 8-28 were proposed.