title: Comparison of glutathione S-transferase activity between drug-resistant and -sensitive human tumor cells: is glutathione S-transferase associated with multidrug resistance?
abstract: We have studied the levels of glutathione S-transferase in drug-resistant and -sensitive human tumor cell lines to examine a possible involvement of glutathione S-transferase (GST) in multidrug resistance mechanisms. No increase in the activity of glutathione S-transferase was detected in myelogenous leukemia K562 resistant to adriamycin (K562/ADM), ovarian carcinoma cell line A2780 resistant to adriamycin (2780AD), or acute lymphoblastic leukemia cell line CCRF-CEM resistant to vinblastine (CEM-VLB100), compared with the drug-sensitive parent tumor cells. The human breast cancer cell lines Hattori and MCF-7 had a 12- to 63-fold lower level of glutathione S-transferase activity than K562, A2780, CCRF-CEM, and their drug-resistant sublines. Induction of ADM resistance in Hattori did not increase the activity of glutathione S-transferase. However, induction of colchicine resistance in MCF-7 resulted in a 70-fold increase in the activity of glutathione S-transferase. A revertant of the colchicine-resistant MCF-7 contained a level of glutathione S-transferase activity similar to that of the resistant subline. The increase of glutathione S-transferase activity did not alter the sensitivity of the cell to cytotoxic drugs. The increased activity was due to the appearance of glutathione S-transferase pi, as shown by enzyme inhibition using anti-glutathione S-transferase pi antibody. Our findings indicate that increased cellular glutathione S-transferase activity is not associated with the development of multidrug resistance.
authors.affiliation: Cancer Chemotherapy Center, Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research, Tokyo.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yusa
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hamada
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tsuruo
mesh_terms: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004351:Drug Resistance; D005982:Glutathione Transferase / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000201:enzymology
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D005982:Glutathione Transferase