DACA [N-[2-(dimethylamino)ethyl]acridine-4-carboxamide], an acridine derivative that is highly active against solid tumours in mice, is currently in clinical trial. The ability of DACA to overcome "atypical" (topoisomerase II-mediated) multidrug resistance has been hypothesised to stem from its dual topoisomerase I/II specificity. We investigated the topoisomerase specificity of DACA and its 7-chloro derivative (C1-DACA) using camptothecin and amsacrine as control compounds. In cell-free assays employing supercoiled plasmid DNA, C1-DACA at 5 microM induced topoisomerase I-mediated DNA breakage, indicating cleavable complex formation (poisoning), and at 10 microM it inhibited relaxation of DNA, consistent with suppression (self-inhibition) of poisoning. In this assay, DACA provided no evidence of poisoning of this enzyme but inhibited its function at concentrations above 10 microM. In DNA cleavage assays utilising purified topoisomerase II, DACA induced breakage of supercoiled plasmid DNA at 5 microM whereas C1-DACA showed very weak poisoning at 1 microM and inhibition at 5 microM. Under conditions required for the assay of DNA relaxation, C1-DACA, but not DACA, inhibited topoisomerase II action at 5 microM. The actions of DACA and C1-DACA could also be distinguished by their ability to form DNA-protein cross-links in H460 human lung carcinoma cells as measured by precipitation of DNA-protein complexes with sodium dodecyl sulfate and potassium chloride. Both drugs stimulated the formation of complexes at low concentrations but inhibited formation at high concentrations. In survival assays with H460 cells, both drugs demonstrated biphasic responses with self-inhibition of cytotoxicity at intermediate drug concentrations. It was concluded that although both drugs have dual topoisomerase I/II specificity, DACA preferentially poisons topoisomerase II and C1-DACA preferentially poisons topoisomerase I. In addition, drug-induced inhibition of topoisomerase action at higher drug concentrations may mask poisoning in the cell-free assays as well as masking cytotoxicity in cultured cells. A model in which drug binding occludes topoisomerase-binding sites on the DNA can explain this self-inhibition of cytotoxic action.