Enhanced cytotoxicity of mitomycin C in human tumour cells with inducers of DT-diaphorase

DT-diaphorase is a two-electron reducing enzyme that activates the bioreductive anti-tumour agent, mitomycin C (MMC). Cell lines having elevated levels of DT-diaphorase are generally more sensitive to MMC. We have shown that DT-diaphorase can be induced in human tumour cells by a number of compounds, including 1,2-dithiole-3-thione. In this study, we investigated whether induction of DT-diaphorase could enhance the cytotoxic activity of MMC in six human tumour cell lines representing four tumour types. DT-diaphorase was induced by many dietary inducers, including propyl gallate, dimethyl maleate, dimethyl fumarate and sulforaphane. The cytotoxicity of MMC was significantly increased in four tumour lines with the increase ranging from 1.4- to threefold. In contrast, MMC activity was not increased in SK-MEL-28 human melanoma cells and AGS human gastric cancer cells, cell lines that have high base levels of DT-diaphorase activity. Toxicity to normal human marrow cells was increased by 50% when MMC was combined with 1,2-dithiole-3-thione, but this increase was small in comparison with the threefold increase in cytotoxicity to tumour cells. This study demonstrates that induction of DT-diaphorase can increase the cytotoxic activity of MMC in human tumour cell lines, and suggests that it may be possible to use non-toxic inducers of DT-diaphorase to enhance the efficacy of bioreductive anti-tumour agents. © 1999 Cancer Research Campaign