Chemotherapy-related secondary leukemias: A role for DNA repair by error-prone non-homologous end joining in topoisomerase II — Induced chromosomal rearrangements

Chromosome rearrangements are believed to cause the secondary leukemias which constitute frequent complications of antitumor chemotherapy with topoisomerase II-specific drugs. Here we show that inhibition of DNA topoisomerase II in cultured cells stimulates association of components of the non-homologous end joining system with a known breakpoint cluster region of the human AML1 gene, suggesting that errors of DNA repair during NHEJ may be the cause of illegitimate recombination in cells treated with topoisomerase II poisons.