C-1027, a radiomimetic enediyne anticancer drug, preferentially targets hypoxic cells.

The hypoxic nature of cells within solid tumors limits the efficacy of anticancer therapies such as ionizing radiation and conventional radiomimetics because their mechanisms require oxygen to induce lethal DNA breaks. For example, the conventional radiomimetic enediyne neocarzinostatin is 4-fold less cytotoxic to cells maintained in low oxygen (hypoxic) compared with normoxic conditions. By contrast, the enediyne C-1027 was nearly 3-fold more cytotoxic to hypoxic than to normoxic cells.

The antitumor enediyne C-1027 alters cell cycle progression and induces chromosomal aberrations and telomere dysfunction.

This study examined the extent of chromosome instability induced in cultured human colon carcinoma HCT116 cells by the antitumor radiomimetic enediyne antibiotic C-1027. Spectral karyotype analysis showed frequent intrachromosomal fusions and fragmentations 26 hours after addition of as little as 0.035 nmol/L C-1027.

The DNA minor groove-alkylating cyclopropylpyrroloindole drugs adozelesin and bizelesin induce different DNA damage response pathways in human colon carcinoma HCT116 cells.

As members of the cyclopropylpyrroloindole family, adozelesin and bizelesin cause genomic DNA lesions by alkylating DNA. Adozelesin induces single-strand DNA lesions, whereas bizelesin induces both single-strand lesions and double-strand DNA cross-links. At equivalent cytotoxic concentrations, these agents caused different biological responses.