CORRESPONDENCE

Re: The ras Oncogene-Mediated Sensitization of Human Cells to Topoisomerase II Inhibitor-Induced Apoptosis

Han-Mo Koo, George F. Vande Woude

Affiliations of authors: H.-M. Koo (Advanced BioScience Laboratories, Inc.-Basic Research Program), G. F. Vande Woude (Division of Basic Sciences), National Cancer Institute-Frederick Cancer Research and Development Center, Frederick, MD.

Correspondence to present address: Han-Mo Koo, Ph.D., Van Andel Research Institute, 201 Monroe Ave., N.W., Suite 400, Grand Rapids, MI 49503 (e-mail: hanmo.koo{at}vai.org).

We (1) have previously reported that, in the absence of multidrug resistance (MDR) influence, activated ras oncogenes enhance the sensitivity of human tumor cells to most topoisomerase II inhibitors by potentiating apoptotic response. The compounds NSC 284682 and NSC 659687 (2) are especially effective, irrespective of the MDR phenotype in tumor cells (1). The ras oncogene-mediated sensitization to topoisomerase II inhibitors is far more prominent with the non-DNA-intercalating epipodophyllotoxins than with the DNA-intercalating inhibitors (1). We have recently found a paper by Tortora et al. (3) that describes the sensitization of human MCF-10A cells transformed by Ha-ras oncogene to topoisomerase II inhibitors, etoposide, teniposide, and amsacrine, as we have reported (1). Omission of the citation (3) in our paper (1) was inadvertent.

REFERENCES

1 Koo HM, Gray-Goodrich M, Kohlhagen G, McWilliams MJ, Jeffers M, Vaigro-Wolff A, et al. The ras oncogene-mediated sensitization of human cells to topoisomerase II inhibitor-induced apoptosis. J Natl Cancer Inst 1999;91:236-44.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

2 Koo HM, Monks A, Mikheev A, Rubinstein LV, Gray-Goodrich M, McWilliams MJ, et al. Enhanced sensitivity to 1-ß-D-arabinofuranosylcytosine and topoisomerase II inhibitors in tumor cell lines harboring activated ras oncogenes. Cancer Res 1996;56:5211-6.[Abstract]

3 Tortora G, Ciardiello F, Damiano V, Pepe S, Bianco C, di Isernia G, et al. Cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase type I is involved in hypersensitivity of human breast cells to topoisomerase II inhibitors. Clin Cancer Res 1995;1:49-56.[Abstract]



             
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