We have studied the antitumor activity and the novel DNA-self-strand-breaking mechanism of CNDAC (1-(2-Ccyano-2-deoxy-beta-D-arabino-pentofuranosyl)cytosine) and its N4-palmitoyl derivative (CS-682). In vitro, CS-682 showed strong cytotoxicity against human tumor cells comparable with that of CNDAC; both compounds displayed a similar broad spectrum. In vivo, however, orally administered CS-682 showed a more potent activity against human tumor xenografts than CNDAC, 5'-deoxy-5-fluorouridine, 5-fluorouracil and 2',2'-difluorodeoxycytidine. Moreover, CS-682 was effective against various human organ tumor xenografts at a wide dose range and with low toxicity, and was effective against P388 leukemic cells resistant to mitomycin-C, vincristine, 5-fluorouracil or cisplatin in syngeneic mice. CNDAC, an active metabolite of CS-682, had a prolonged plasma half-life after repeated oral administrations of CS-682 but not after oral administrations of CNDAC itself. This difference may partially explain the higher antitumor activity of CS-682 relative to CNDAC. In both CNDAC- and CS-682-treated carcinoma cells, CNDAC 5'-triphosphate (CNDACTP) was generated and incorporated into a DNA strand. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and mass spectrometric analysis of the nucleosides prepared by digestion of the DNA from the CNDAC-treated cells detected ddCNC (2'-Ccyano-2',3 '-didehydro-2',3 '-dideoxycytidine), which was shown to be generated only when the self-strand-breakage of CNDACTP-incorporated DNA occurred. The cytotoxicity of CNDAC was completely abrogated by the addition of 2'-deoxycytidine and was low against cells with decreased deoxycytidine kinase. Our results suggest that CNDAC is converted to CNDACMP by deoxycytidine kinase and that the resulting CNDACTP incorporated into a DNA strand as CNDACMP may induce DNA-self-strand-breakage. This novel DNA-self-strand-breaking mechanism may contribute to the potent antitumor activity of CS-682.