Reversal of multidrug resistance in murine fibrosarcoma cells by thioxanthene flupentixol.

The purpose of this study was to identify calcium channel and calmodulin antagonists effective in increasing the cytotoxic effects of several chemotherapeutic drugs against UV-2237 murine fibrosarcoma MDR cells. Among 8 compounds tested at nontoxic concentrations, flupentixol, a piperazine-substituted thioxanthene, was the most potent in enhancing the cytotoxicity of anticancer drugs commonly associated with the multidrug resistant (MDR) phenotype, such as Adriamycin, actinomycin D, vinblastine, and vincristine, but not 5-fluorouracil, a drug usually unaffected by MDR. The chemosensitizing effects of flupentixol were produced by increasing intracellular drug accumulation via a mechanism unrelated to the binding of the plasma membrane P-glycoprotein.

Stable expression of a cDNA encoding rat brain protein kinase C-beta I confers a multidrug-resistant phenotype on rat fibroblasts.

Protein kinase C (PKC) is a Ca++- and phospholipid-dependent protein kinase that plays an important role in signal transduction pathways that regulate cell growth. Tumor cells selected for a multidrug resistant (MDR) phenotype often express elevated levels of PKC activity. To directly test whether PCK overexpression can produce an MDR phenotype, we studied rat embryo fibroblasts that were infected with the full-length cDNA clone RP58 encoding the beta I form of rat brain PKC. The PKC-beta I gene recipient R6-PKC3 cells are stable, overproduce PKC, and express an elevated level of PKC activity. R6-PKC3 cells exhibited significant resistance to adriamycin, actinomycin D, vinblastine, and vincristine but not to 5-fluorouracil. Intracellular accumulation of adriamycin, vinblastine, and vincristine was decreased in the R6-PKC3 cells, but this was not associated with an altered level of P-glycoprotein expression. Moreover, the reduction in drug accumulation appeared to be a consequence of a decreased rate of drug uptake. The data indicate that overexpression of PKC in rat fibroblasts produces an MDR phenotype without altering P-glycoprotein expression.

A novel N-myristylated synthetic octapeptide inhibits protein kinase C activity and partially reverses murine fibrosarcoma cell resistance to adriamycin.

This report shows that N-acylation of the protein kinase C (PKC) substrate Arg-Lys-Arg-Thr-Leu-Arg-Arg-Leu (RKRTLRRL) provides it with a potent inhibitory activity against PKC. N-myristoyl-RKRTLRRL inhibited Ca2(+)- and phosphatidylserine (PS)-dependent histone phosphorylation catalyzed by PKC with a 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) of 5 microM, whereas neither RKRTLRRL nor myristic acid inhibited PKC-catalyzed histone phosphorylation at concentrations as high as 50 microM. A fully active, Ca2(+)- and PS-independent catalytic fragment of PKC can be generated by limited proteolysis. N-myristoyl-RKRTLRRL inhibited histone phosphorylation catalyzed by the catalytic fragment of PKC (IC50 = 80 microM), but neither myristic acid nor the nonmyristylated peptide inhibited the activity of the catalytic fragment at concentrations up to and including 200 microM. The Km app and Vmax app for N-myristoyl-RKRTLRRL were similar to those of RKRTLRRL. Thus, N-myristylation provided the octapeptide with an inhibitory activity against PKC but had only minor effects on its Km app and Vmax app. Kinetic analysis provided evidence that the peptide inhibited PKC noncompetitively with respect to ATP. Previously, we reported that the protein kinase inhibitor H7 partially reverses Adriamycin resistance in the multidrug resistant (MDR) murine fibrosarcoma line UV-2237M-ADRR. In this report, we show that N-myristoyl-RKRTLRRL also partially reverses Adriamycin resistance in UV-2237M-ADRR cells. These results suggest that potent and selective cell permeable PKC inhibitors may be designed by N-acylating small PKC peptide substrates.

Transient enhancement of multidrug resistance by the bile acid deoxycholate in murine fibrosarcoma cells in vitro.

Recent studies have implicated protein kinase C (PKC) activation in drug resistance in vitro. PKC can be activated directly by phorbol-ester tumor promoters as well as by the bile acid deoxycholate. In this report, we demonstrate that deoxycholate, at concentrations that are chronically present in the lumen of the colon in vivo, mimicked phorbol-ester tumor promoters by protecting Adriamycin (ADR)-sensitive and multidrug-resistant (MDR) murine fibrosarcoma UV-2237M cells from ADR cytotoxicity. Deoxycholate also enhanced the resistance of the MDR cell line UV-2237M-ADRR to the cytotoxic effects of vincristine and vinblastine. In contrast to cytotoxic drug-selected MDR phenotypes, deoxycholate-induced drug resistance was transient and required continuous exposure to the bile acid. The protein kinase inhibitor H7 completely reversed the protection against ADR cytotoxicity conferred on UV-2237M-ADRR cells by deoxycholate, providing evidence that deoxycholate exerts its protective effects by a mechanism that involves stimulation of protein phosphorylation and not merely by detergent effects on membrane permeability. PKC consists of a family of at least seven isozymes with distinct modes of activation and substrate specificities. We previously reported that MDR UV-2237M cell lines contain higher levels of PKC activity than the parental ADR-sensitive UV-2237M cell line (O'Brian et al., FEBS Lett 246: 78-82, 1989). The present report shows that PKC-III is a major PKC isozyme in ADR-sensitive and MDR UV-2237M cell lines. Thus, the resistance to ADR induced by the phorbol esters in UV-2237M cell lines provides strong evidence that PKC-III activation confers protection against ADR on ADR-sensitive and MDR UV-2237M cell lines. Furthermore, since deoxycholate is an endogenous molecule in the colonic epithelium, our finding that physiological concentrations of deoxycholate can render cells more resistant to chemotherapeutic drugs in vitro may have implications for the biology and therapy of intestinal cancers.

Overcoming murine tumor cell resistance to vinblastine by presentation of the drug in multilamellar liposomes consisting of phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylserine.

We determined whether vinblastine (VLB) encapsulated within multilamellar vesicle-liposomes (MLV) would reverse target cell resistance to the drug exhibited by the UV-2237M murine fibrosarcoma and its Adriamycin (ADR)-selected multidrug resistant (MDR) variants. Resistant fibrosarcoma cells were grown in medium containing 1 and 10 micrograms/ml ADR to yield the MDR lines UV-2237M/ADRR (ADR-1) and UV-2237M/ADRRR (ADR-10), respectively. VLB encapsulated in MLV composed of phosphatidylcholine (PC) and phosphatidylserine (PS) (7:3 molar ratio) was hydrophobic, occupied an internal space equivalent of 6.13 microliters/mumol, and was stable in medium at 37 degrees C for up to 6 days. The 50% inhibitory concentrations (IC50) of VLB were 2, 25, and 70 ng/ml for the parent, ADR-1, and ADR-10 cell lines, respectively. VLB in MLV significantly enhanced sensitivity of tumor cells to VLB. The respective IC50 of liposomal VLB were 0.5, 5.7, and 12 ng/ml for the parent, ADR-1, and ADR-10 lines. MLV containing saline were not toxic to the cells. These data indicate that presentation of VLB entrapped in PC:PS MLV provides a method to overcome tumor cell resistance to this drug.

Retention of vital dyes correlates inversely with the multidrug-resistant phenotype of adriamycin-selected murine fibrosarcoma variants.

Retention of the vital dyes rhodamine 123 (R-123) and hydroethidine (HET) correlates inversely with the multidrug resistant phenotypes of the adriamycin (ADM)-selected variants of a uv-induced murine fibrosarcoma cell line (UV-2237M). The differential affinity of these dyes for specific cellular organelles makes them unique compounds for studies of cellular transport. HET enters viable cells freely, is dehydrogenated to ethidium bromide (EtBr), and is subsequently accumulated in the nucleus. Viable cells are impermeable to extracellular EtBr, facilitating kinetic analysis of the efflux of intracellular EtBr. We found that the metabolite EtBr was rapidly cleared by ADM-resistant but not by ADM-sensitive cells. R-123 has a high affinity to mitochondria. Our results show that ADM-sensitive cells retain R-123 whereas the ADM-resistant cells do not. The clearance of both R-123 and EtBr from these cells was inhibited by verapamil. Therefore, R-123 and HET may be considered MDR-associated compounds useful in studying the MDR phenotype of cancer cells. Previously we reported a direct correlation between the level of activity of the calcium- and phospholipid-dependent protein kinase (protein kinases C) and ADM resistance in UV-2237M variant lines. In this report, we demonstrate a direct correlation between cellular calcium and MDR in these cells. Although chelation of extracellular calcium by EDTA did not alter the fluorescence profile of R-123 of the various cell lines, treating the ADM-resistant variants with verapamil restored cellular calcium to the same level as that of the parental cells and, at the same time, retarded the facilitated efflux of R-123 and EtBr and partially reversed cancer cell resistance to ADM.