Accumulation of intracellular platinum is correlated with intrinsic cisplatin resistance in human bladder cancer cell lines.

We investigated the mechanism of intrinsic resistance to cisplatin in human transitional cell cancer (TCC) using 7 human bladder cancer cell lines, which were derived from untreated TCC of the urinary bladder. The sensitivity to cisplatin was different from cell line to cell line, and a 15-fold difference was observed between the most sensitive line and the most resistant line. No significant correlation was observed between the content of intracellular glutathione and the resistance to cisplatin. In contrast, a positive correlation was seen between intracellular cisplatin accumulation and cisplatin resistance. The expression of drug resistance-related genes including glutathione S-transferase pi, gamma-glutamyl-cysteine synthetase, multidrug resistance-1, multidrug resistance-associated protein, DNA topoisomerase I, topoisomerase II, human canalicular multispecific organic anion transporter, and thioredoxin was not significantly related to cisplatin resistance. These data suggest that intracellular cisplatin may contribute to intrinsic cisplatin resistance and may therefore be a useful biomarker to predict cisplatin sensitivity in human untreated TCC.