Identification of a novel catalytic inhibitor of topoisomerase II alpha that engages distinct mechanisms in p53wt or p53−/− cells to trigger G2/M arrest and senescence

We report a novel topoisomerase IIα inhibitor, mercaptopyridine oxide (MPO), which induces G2/M arrest and senescence with distinctly different cell cycle regulators (p21 or p14ARF) in HCT116p 53WT and HCT116 p53−/− cells, respectively. MPO treatment induced defective topoisomerase IIα-mediated decatenation process and inhibition of the enzyme's catalytic activity that stalled M phase progression. Topoisomerase IIα inhibition was associated with ROS-mediated activation of ATM-Chk2 kinase axis in HCT116 p53WT cells, but not in HCT116 p53−/− cells displaying early Chk1 activation. Results suggest that E2F1 stabilization might link MPO-induced p53 phospho-activation in HCT116 p53WT cells or p14ARF induction in HCT116 p53−/− cells. Also, interaction between topoisomerase IIα and Chk1 was induced in both cell lines, which could be important for decatenation checkpoint activation, even upon p53 ablation. Notably, TCGA dataset analyses revealed topoisomerase IIα upregulation across a wide array of cancers, which was associated with lower overall survival. Corroborating that increased topoisomerase IIα expression might offer susceptibility to the novel inhibitor, MPO (5 μM) induced strong inhibition in colony forming ability of pancreatic and hepatocellular cancer cell lines. These data highlight a novel topoisomerase IIα inhibitor and provide proof-of-concept for its therapeutic potential against cancers even with loss-of-function of p53.