piperidines and pirarubicin

Effectiveness of chemotherapeutic treatment is limited by multidrug resistance (MDR) phenomenon mediated by the overexpression of P-glycoprotein 170 termed Pgp which serves as an efflux pump removing several types of cytostatic drugs from the MDR cells. Several small molecules, frequently lipophilic cations and weak bases, are able to reverse in vitro this resistance. Several studies have shown that MDR modulators interact with Pgp. However, some molecules do not interact with Pgp but are able to completely restore drug sensitivity (e.g., quinine). Bennis et al. (1995) have shown recently that in contrast to verapamil and S9788, quinine increases nuclear doxorubicin accumulation without modifying its intracellular concentration. From this work, the authors concluded that quinine has essentially intracellular targets involved in drug distribution (cytoplasm to nucleus) from sequestration compartments. Their results have been obtained using spectrofluorometry on cell populations and fluorescence microscopy. By using confocal laser microspectrofluorometry, we investigated restoration of nuclear THP-DOX accumulation and sensitivity by verapamil, S9788 and quinine in 2 variants of the Chinese hamster ovary cells LR73, selected for resistance to doxorubicin (LR73D) and transfected with the mdr1 gene (LR73R), as well as in the sensitive ones (LR73S). Results show that verapamil and S9788 were able to restore THP-DOX sensitivity in resistant cells by increasing nuclear THP-DOX accumulation. This restoration is the consequence of Pgp inhibition and redistribution of the anticancer drug from the cytoplasm to nucleus. Quinine, in contrast, restores the sensitivity of MDR cells to THP-DOX and decreased their resistance index, but has no effect on THP-DOX nuclear accumulation. This suggests that quinine modifies the molecular environment of anthracyclines and/or their binding to cytoplasmic targets involved in another mechanism of anthracycline action.

Topics: Animals; Antibiotics, Antineoplastic; Antineoplastic Agents; ATP Binding Cassette Transporter, Subfamily B, Member 1; Cricetinae; Doxorubicin; Drug Resistance, Multiple; Drug Resistance, Neoplasm; Female; In Vitro Techniques; Microscopy, Confocal; Piperidines; Quinine; Spectrometry, Fluorescence; Triazines; Tumor Cells, Cultured; Verapamil

We used confocal microspectrofluorometry to investigate intracellular distribution of pirarubicin or THP-DOX in parental K562, CEM, and LR73 tumor cells and their corresponding multidrug-resistant (MDR) strains. Each spectrum of a recorded image was considered as a combination of cell autofluorescence and fluorescence of the drug. In the cytoplasm of parental K562, CEM, and LR73 cells, THP-DOX fluorescence emission profile was similar to that of free drug in aqueous buffer. The (I550nm/I600nm) ratio was 0. 50 +/- 0.1. However, in the cytoplasm of resistant cells the 550-nm band profile was modified. The I550nm/I600nm ratio was 0.85 +/- 0.2 in MDR K562 cells, which is significantly different from the ratio in sensitive cells (p<0.01). This appeared first to correspond to accumulation and self-oligomerization of THP-DOX in cytoplasmic organelles of MDR cells. Transfection of LR73 cells with the mdr1 gene conferred this characteristic on the resistant LR73R cells. Bodipy-ceramide, a trans-Golgi probe, was co-localized with the typical fluorescence emission peak at 550 nm observed in the cytoplasm of MDR cells. This organelle has been shown to be more acidic in MDR cells. Moreover, this specific pattern was similar to that observed when anthracycline is complexed with sphingomyelin. The typical fluorescence emission peak at 550 nm decreased in MDR cells incubated simultaneously in the presence of the drug and quinine, verapamil, or S9788. Growth inhibitory effect and nuclear accumulation of THP-DOX data obtained on LR73R and LR73D cell lines showed that only during reversion of resistance by verapamil and S9788 was an increase of nuclear THP-DOX accumulation observed. Our data suggest that characteristics of molecular environment, such as higher pH gradient or lipid structures, would be potential mechanisms of multidrug-resistance via the sequestration of anthracyclines.

Topics: Animals; Antibiotics, Antineoplastic; Cell Nucleus; CHO Cells; Cricetinae; Cytoplasm; Doxorubicin; Drug Resistance, Multiple; Drug Resistance, Neoplasm; Golgi Apparatus; Humans; Microspectrophotometry; Piperidines; Quinine; Triazines; Tumor Cells, Cultured; Verapamil

Confocal laser microspectrofluorometry was used to investigate restoration of nuclear pirarubicin (THP-DOX) accumulation and sensitivity by verapamil, quinine and S9788 in 2 variants of the Chinese hamster ovary cell lines LR73, selected for resistance to doxorubicin (LR73D) or transfected with the mdr1 gene (LR73R). The 2 resistant cell lines present a multidrug-resistance phenotype (MDR). Verapamil and S9788, which interact with P-glycoprotein (P-gp), were able to restore nuclear THP-DOX accumulation in LR73R and LR73D cells to a level equivalent to that in sensitive cells. On the other hand, quinine was unable to increase nuclear THP-DOX accumulation significantly even at a concentration of 50 microM. All modulators completely restored THP-DOX sensitivity in resistant cell lines. Our results also show that verapamil and S9788 allow high nuclear drug accumulation, whereas quinine did not affect nuclear accumulation. The effect of quinine on the mdr1 gene expression was determined by the use of reverse transcription coupled with polymerase chain reaction. After a 2 hr treatment with 20 microM of quinine, mdr1 gene expression increased slightly.

Topics: Animals; ATP Binding Cassette Transporter, Subfamily B, Member 1; Cell Nucleus; CHO Cells; Cricetinae; Doxorubicin; Drug Resistance, Multiple; Drug Resistance, Neoplasm; Gene Expression Regulation; Genes, MDR; Piperidines; Quinine; Triazines; Verapamil