Destruction of cells by irradiation-induced radical formation is one of the most frequent interventions in
cancer therapy. An alternative to irradiation-induced radical formation is in principle drug-induced formation of radicals, and the formation of toxic metabolites by
enzyme catalyzed reactions. Thus, combination
therapy targeting
polyamine metabolism could represent a promising strategy to fight hyper-proliferative disease. The aim of this work is to discuss and evaluate whether the presence of
a DNA damage provoked by enzymatic ROS overproduction may act as an additive or adaptive response upon radiation and combination of
hyperthermia with lysosomotropic compounds may improve the cytocidal effect of
polyamines oxidation metabolites. Low level of X-irradiations delivers challenging dose of damage and an additive or adaptive response with the chronic damage induced by
spermine oxidase overexpression depending on the deficiency of the DNA repair mechanisms. Since
reactive oxygen species lead to membrane destabilization and cell death, we discuss the effects of BSAO and
spermine association in multidrug resistant cells that resulted more sensitive to
spermine metabolites than their wild-type counterparts, due to an increased mitochondrial activity. Since mammal
spermine oxidase is differentially activated in a tissue specific manner, and
cancer cells can differ in term of DNA repair capability, it could be of interest to open a scientific debate to use combinatory treatments to alter
spermine metabolism and deliver differential response.