Biochemical parameters of resistance of an adriamycin-resistant subline of P388 leukemia to emetine, an inhibitor of protein synthesis.

The effects of emetine on protein and DNA synthesis in vitro and in vivo were compared in P388 leukemia cells (P388/S) and in an adriamycin-resistant subline of P388 leukemia (P388/ADR), which was completely cross-resistant in vivo to emetine. In P388/ADR cells in vitro no apparent resistance to emetine was found; no difference in cytotoxicity was evident in P388/S or P388/ADR cells exposed to emetine in vitro for 1 or 6 hours. Protein and DNA synthesis was inhibited to a similar extent in P388/S and P388/ADR cells at equivalent concentrations of the drug. However, inhibition of protein synthesis by emetine in P388/ADR cells was more reversible than in P388/S cells when the cells were exposed to emetine and subsequently incubated in drug-free medium for 1 hour prior to addition of labeled L-leucine. Differences between P388/S and P388/ADR cells were evident in vivo. The duration of inhibition (greater than 90%) of protein and DNA synthesis in P388/ADR cells was about 8 hours compared to 24 hours in P388/S cells following administration of a therapeutic dose of 25 mg emetine/kg to tumor-bearing mice. The level of radioactivity in the P388/ADR cells 24 hours after in vivo administration of the emetine analog, (+/-)-[3'-14C]2,3-dehydroemetine, was only 26% of that in P388/S cells. This evidence suggests that the resistance of P388/ADR to emetine is due to decreased retention of the drug.