Role of the MDR-1-encoded multiple drug resistance phenotype in prostate cancer cell lines.

The treatment of advanced metastatic prostate cancer by hormone manipulation or orchiectomy is frequently followed by the appearance of hormone-insensitive and highly chemoresistant tumor cells. In this study we have investigated the contribution of the P-glycoprotein-mediated drug efflux (multidrug-resistance; MDR) to the cellular resistance of prostate carcinoma-derived cell lines to diverse cytotoxic drugs by detection of P-glycoprotein (P-gp) measurement of P-gp-mediated drug transport and reversal of MDR by chemosensitizers. The in vitro chemosensitivity of three prostate cancer cell lines (PC-3, DU-145 and LNCaP) to doxorubicin was measured in a thymidine incorporation proliferation assay. Growth of the partially hormone-sensitive cell line LNCaP is inhibited by low doses of doxorubicin (IC50:27 ng./ml.), but PC-3 and DU-145 are highly resistant to the drug, with IC50 values of 10 micrograms./ml. and 7.5 micrograms./ml., respectively. The chemosensitivity of the PC-3 and DU-145 cells is increased in response to 1 microM. verapamil, 1 micrograms./ml. cyclosporine A and 2 microM. tamoxifen, which are known to partially reverse the MDR phenotype in other resistant tumors. A verapamil-sensitive drug efflux has been demonstrated for the PC-3 and Du-145, but not for the LNCaP, cell lines, using flow cytometric measurements of the P-gp substrate rhodamine 123 efflux from preloaded cells. In agreement with the functional measurements, the expression of the P-glycoprotein was detected in the PC-3 and Du-145 cell lines in Western blots using the monoclonal C 219 antibody. In conclusion, the chemoresistant and hormone-insensitive PC-3 and Du-145 cell lines express P-gp and exhibit verapamil-sensitive drug efflux, indicative of MDR. However, the low MDR-reversal rates observed in these cell lines in response to chemosensitizers in clinically achievable concentrations (approximately 2- to 3-fold reversal), point to non-MDR-associated cellular mechanisms as dominant factors of chemoresistance in prostate cancer.