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Non-P-Glycoprotein-mediated Multidrug Resistance in Detransformed Rat Cells Selected for Resistance to Methylglyoxal Bis(guanylhydrazone)¹

Département de Microbiologie, Faculté de Médecine, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Québec, J1H 5N4, Canada

Three independent variants (G2, G4, G5), resistant to methylglyoxal bis(guanylhydrazone), an anticancer drug, have been isolated by single step selection from an adenovirus-transformed rat brain cell line (1). These variants display selective cross-resistance to several natural product drugs of dissimilar structure and action. Multidrug resistance has recently been shown to be caused by overexpression of the membrane-associated p-glycoprotein, most often caused by amplification of the mdr gene. Several types of experiments were conducted to determine whether the observed drug resistance in our cell lines could be due to changes at the mdr locus. The following results were obtained: (a) the mdr locus was not amplified; (b) transcription of the mdr gene and p-glycoprotein synthesis were not increased; (c) multidrug resistance cell lines, which carry an amplified mdr locus, were not cross-resistant to methylglyoxal bis(guanylhydrazone); (d) verapamil did not reverse the resistance of G cells or mdr cells to methylglyoxal bis(guanylhydrazone), nor that of G cells to vincristine; and (e) methylglyoxal bis(guanylhydrazone) resistance was recessive and depended on a block to drug uptake, as opposed to mdr cells which are dominant and express increased drug efflux. The results obtained suggest that the drug resistance in the G2, G4, and G5 cells was atypical and may be due to a mechanism distinct from that mediated by the mdr locus.

¹ This research was supported by a grant from the National Cancer Institute of Canada.

² Senior Research Scientist of the National Cancer Institute of Canada. To whom requests for reprints should be addressed.

Received 9/19/88. Revised 5/ 8/89. Revised 7/13/89. Accepted 7/26/89.