Contribution of the major copper influx transporter CTR1 to the cellular accumulation of cisplatin, carboplatin, and oxaliplatin.

The goal of this study was to determine the ability of the major copper influx transporter CTR1 to mediate the cellular accumulation of cisplatin (DDP), carboplatin (CBDCA), and oxaliplatin (L-OHP). Wild-type murine embryonic fibroblasts (CTR1+/+) and a subline in which both alleles of CTR1 were deleted (CTR1-/-) were tested for their ability to accumulate platinum when exposed to increasing concentrations of DDP, CBDCA, or L-OHP for 1 h. They were also tested for their sensitivity to the growth-inhibitory effect of each drug. Platinum content was measured by ion-coupled plasmon mass spectroscopy. The experimental model was validated by measuring copper accumulation and cytotoxicity. CTR1-/- cells accumulated only 5.7% as much copper as CTR1+/+ cells during a 1-h exposure to 2 microM copper. When exposed to DDP, CBDCA, or L-OHP at 2 microM, accumulation in the CTR1-/- cells was only 35 to 36% of that in the CTR1+/+ cells. When tested at a 5-fold higher concentration, this deficit remained for DDP and CBDCA, but accumulation of L-OHP was no longer CTR1-dependent. There was an association between the effect of loss of CTR1 function on uptake of the platinum drugs and their cytotoxicity. The CTR1-/- cells were 3.2-fold resistant to DDP, 2.0-fold resistant to CBDCA, but only 1.7-fold resistant to L-OHP. Thus, whereas CTR1 controls the cellular accumulation of all three drugs at low concentrations, accumulation of L-OHP is not dependent on CTR1 at higher concentrations. We conclude that L-OHP is a substrate for some other cellular entry mechanism, a feature consistent with its different clinical spectrum of activity.