Alternative RNA Processing of Topoisomerase IIα in Etoposide-Resistant Human Leukemia K562 Cells: Intron Retention Results in a Novel C-Terminal Truncated 90-kDa Isoform.

DNA topoisomerase II α (TOP2 α ) is a prominent target for anticancer drugs whose clinical efficacy is often limited by chemoresistance. Using antibody specific for the N-terminal of TOP2 α , immunoassays indicated the existence of two TOP2 α isoforms, 170 and 90 kDa, present in K562 leukemia cells and in an acquired etoposide (VP-16)-resistant clone (K/VP.5). TOP2 α /90 expression was dramatically increased in etoposide-resistant K/VP.5 compared with parental K562 cells. We hypothesized that TOP2 α /90 was the translation product of novel alternatively processed pre-mRNA, confirmed by 3′-rapid amplification of cDNA ends, polymerase chain reaction, and sequencing. TOP2 α /90 mRNA includes retained intron 19, which harbors an in-frame stop codon, and two consensus poly(A) sites. The processed transcript is polyadenylated. TOP2 α /90 mRNA encodes a 90,076-Da translation product missing the C-terminal 770 amino acids of TOP2 α /170, replaced by 25 unique amino acids through translation of the exon 19/intron 19 read-through. Immunoassays, utilizing antisera raised against these unique amino acids, confirmed that TOP2 α /90 is expressed in both cell types, with overexpression in K/VP.5 cells. Immunodetection of complex of enzyme-to-DNA and single-cell gel electrophoresis (Comet) assays demonstrated that K562 cells transfected with a TOP2 α /90 expression plasmid exhibited reduced etoposide-mediated TOP2 α –DNA covalent complexes and decreased etoposide-induced DNA damage, respectively, compared with similarly treated K562 cells transfected with empty vector. Because TOP2 α /90 lacks the active site tyrosine (Tyr805) of full-length TOP2 α , these results strongly suggest that TOP2 α /90 exhibits dominant-negative properties. Further studies are underway to characterize the mechanism(s) by which TOP2 α /90 plays a role in acquired resistance to etoposide and other TOP2 α targeting agents.