ABSTRACT
Irinotecan is a topoisomerase I inhibitor widely used as an anticancer agent in the treatment of metastatic colon cancer. However, its efficacy is often limited by the development of resistance. We have isolated a colon carcinoma cell line, HCT116-SN6, which displays a 6-fold higher resistance to SN38, the active metabolite of irinotecan. In this paper, we studied the molecular mechanisms that cause resistance to SN38 in the HCT116-SN6 cell line. First, we analyzed proliferation, cell cycle distribution, apoptosis, topoisomerase I expression and activity in SN38-resistant (HCT116-SN6) and sensitive (HCT116-s cells). We showed that the SN38-induced apoptosis and the SN38-activated cell cycle checkpoints leading to G(2)/M cell cycle arrest were similar in both cell lines. Topoisomerase I expression and catalytic activity were also unchanged. Then, we compared mRNA expression profiles in the two cell lines using the Affymetrix Human Genome GeneChip arrays U133A and B. Microarray analysis showed that among the genes, which were differentially expressed in HCT116-s and HCT116-SN6 cells, 27% were related to cell proliferation suggesting that proliferation might be the main target in the development of resistance to SN38. This result correlates with the phenotypic observation of a reduced growth rate in HCT116-SN6 resistant cells. Furthermore, 29% of the overexpressed genes were Interferon Stimulated Genes and we demonstrate that their overexpression is, at least partially, due to endogenous activation of the p38 MAP kinase pathway in SN38 resistant cells. In conclusion, a slower cell proliferation rate may be a major cause of acquired resistance to SN38 via a reduction of cell cycle progression through the S phase which is mandatory for the cytotoxic action of SN38. This lower growth rate could be due to the endogenous activation of p38.
Subject(s)
Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic/pharmacology , Camptothecin/analogs & derivatives , Cell Proliferation , Colonic Neoplasms/drug therapy , Colonic Neoplasms/pathology , Drug Resistance, Neoplasm , Interferons/metabolism , Apoptosis , Camptothecin/pharmacology , Cell Cycle , Cell Line, Tumor , Cell Survival , DNA Topoisomerases, Type I/metabolism , Humans , Inhibitory Concentration 50 , Irinotecan , Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis , Time FactorsABSTRACT
Overcoming drug resistance has become an important issue in cancer chemotherapy. Among all known mechanisms that confer resistance, active efflux of chemotherapeutic agents by proteins from the ATP-binding cassette family has been extensively reported. The aim of the present study was to determine the involvement of ABCG2 in resistance to SN38 (the active metabolite of irinotecan) in colorectal cancer. By progressive exposure to increasing concentrations of SN38, we isolated 2 resistant clones from the human colon carcinoma cell line HCT116. These clones were 6- and 53-fold more resistant to SN38 than the HCT116-derived sensitive clone. Topoisomerase I expression was unchanged in our resistant variants. The highest resistance level correlated with an ABCG2 amplification. This overexpression was associated with a marked decrease in the intracellular accumulation of SN38. The inhibition of ABCG2 function by Ko143 demonstrated that enhanced drug efflux from resistant cells was mediated by the activity of ABCG2 protein and confirmed that ABCG2 is directly involved in acquired resistance to SN38. Furthermore, we show, for the first time in clinical samples, that the ABCG2 mRNA content in hepatic metastases is higher after an irinotecan-based chemotherapy than in irinotecan-naive metastases. In conclusion, this study supports the potential involvement of ABCG2 in the development of irinotecan resistance in vivo.
