Drug resistance and membrane alteration in mutants of mammalian cells.

Independent colchicine-resistant (CHR) mutants of Chinese hamster ovary cells displaying reduced permeability to colchicine have been isolated. A distinguishing feature of these membrane-altered mutants is their pleiotropic cross-resistance to a variety of unrelated compounds. Genetic characterization of the CHR lines indicate that colchicine resistance and cross-resistance to other drugs are of a dominant nature in somatic cell hybrids. Revertants of CHR have been isolated which display decreased resistance to colchicine and a corresponding decrease in resistance to other drugs. These results strongly suggest that colchicine resistance and the pleiotropic cross-resistance are the result of the same mutation(s). Biochemical studies indicate that although colchicine is transported into our cells by passive diffusion, no major alterations in the membrane lipids could be detected in mutant cells. However, there appears to be an energy-dependent process in these cells which actively maintains a permeability barrier against colchicine and other drugs. The CHR cells might be altered in this process. A new glycoprotein has been identified in mutant cell membranes which is not present in parental cells, and is greatly reduced in revertant cells. A model for colchicine-resistance is proposed which suggests that certain membrane proteins such as the new glycoprotein of CHR cells, are modulators of membrane fluidity (mmf proteins) whose molecular conformation regulates membrane permeability to a variety of compounds and that the CHR mutants are altered in their mmf proteins. The possible importance of the CHR cells as models for investigating aspects of chemotherapy related to drug resistance is discussed.