Several mitomycin antibiotics were evaluated for their capacities to kill EMT6 tumor cells and to produce DNA crosslinks under conditions of oxygenation and hypoxia. The agents examined included mitomycin C, porfiromycin, and the 7-aminomethyl dithioacetal derivative of mitomycin C (BMY-43324), all of which caused greater kill of hypoxic cells than of their oxygenated counterparts; the N,N'-dimethylaminomethylene derivative of mitomycin C (BMY-25282), which was considerably more cytotoxic under oxygenated conditions than in hypoxia; and the N,N'-dimethylaminomethylene derivative of porfiromycin (BL-6783), which was equal in its toxicity to hypoxic and oxygenated cells. All of these agents produced DNA crosslinks in EMT6 cells, as measured by alkaline elution. The number of crosslinks required to produce a given amount of cell kill was similar, regardless of the mitomycin employed or the degree of oxygenation, suggesting that the crosslinking of DNA was a major lesion in the cytodestructive action of the mitomycins.
