The camptothecin derivative 7-ethyl-10-[4-(1-piperidino)-1-piperidino]-carbonyloxy camptothecin (CPT-11) has attracted the attention of clinicians because of its high antitumor activity against refractory solid cancers. We established two CPT-11-resistant cell lines, a non-small-cell lung-cancer cell line (PC-7/CPT-11) from the parental PC-7 line and an ovarian cancer cell line (HAC-2/CPT-11) from the parental HAC-2 line. The mechanisms of resistance to CPT-11 in PC-7/CPT-11 cells were reduced conversion of CPT-11 to its active metabolite SN-38 and point mutation topoisomerase I. Those in HAC-2/CPT-11 cells were reduction of topoisomerase I activity and decreased sensitivity of topoisomerase to topoisomerase I inhibitors. No point mutation of the topoisomerase was observed in HAC-2/CPT-11 cells. We conducted two phase I trials using CPT-11 in combination with other anticancer agents. One was a phase I trial of CPT-11 and cisplatin given with a fixed dose of vindesine to patients with advanced non-small-cell lung-cancer and the other was a phase I study on a topoisomerase-targeting combination of CPT-11 and etoposide (VP-16) in patients with various malignant solid tumors. The results of the first trial indicated that the recommended dose of CPT-11 for phase II studies was 80 mg/m2 combined with 3 mg/m2 vindesine on days 1 and 8 and 60 mg/m2 cisplatin on day 1. In the second trial, the recommended dose of CPT-11/VP-16 given with recombinant granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (on days 4-17) was found to be 60/60 mg/m2. In both trials, diarrhea and granulocytopenia were considered to be dose-limiting toxicities.