title: Effect of metal-based anticancer drugs on wild type and metallothionein null cell lines.
abstract: Metallothioneins (MT) are ubiquitous low-molecular-weight metal-binding intracellular proteins. We used wild type mouse embryo fibroblasts, GKA1, and its MT-null variant, named GKA2, in order to correlate the presence of MT to the response to a number of different antitumor drugs with different mechanisms of action. We studied sensitivity of GKA1 and GKA2 cells to metal-based compounds having alkylating property, or able to generate reactive oxygen species (ROS); as well as to drugs acting with different mechanisms. The absence of MT in GKA2 cells was correlated to higher sensitivity to the metal-based drugs compared to that of GKA1. No marked differences in sensitivity of two cell lines against gemcitabine, taxol, and vinblastine were observed. No significant change in sensitivity of either GKA1 or GKA2 cells to these non-alkylating drugs was seen after heavy metal pretreatments. In GKA1 cells, MT biosynthesis was induced by copper and cadmium but not by zinc treatment under the conditions of these experiments. Induction of MT was directly proportional to decrease in sensitivity of GKA1 cells to the compounds used in this experiment. In contrast to GKA1 cells, the MT-null cells (GKA2) expressed no detectable metallothionein either constitutively or after treatment with zinc, copper, or cadmium. Nonetheless, heavy metal pretreatment of GKA2 cells did not cause any change in their sensitivity.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Avanzate, Universitá del Piemonte Orientale A. Avogadro, Corso Borsalino 54, 15100 Alessandria, Italy.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mahboobi
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Viarengo
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Colangelo
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Osella
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D015153:Blotting, Western; D019256:Cadmium Chloride / Q000494:pharmacology; D016190:Carboplatin / Q000494:pharmacology; D002455:Cell Division / Q000187:drug effects; D002460:Cell Line; D002712:Chlorides / Q000494:pharmacology; D002945:Cisplatin / Q000494:pharmacology; D019327:Copper Sulfate / Q000494:pharmacology; D003841:Deoxycytidine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000494:pharmacology; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel / Q000379:methods; D005296:Ferrous Compounds / Q000494:pharmacology; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D020128:Inhibitory Concentration 50; D008668:Metallothionein / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051379:Mice; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D017239:Paclitaxel / Q000494:pharmacology; D013054:Spectrophotometry, Atomic / Q000379:methods; D016019:Survival Analysis; D015996:Survival Rate; D014747:Vinblastine / Q000494:pharmacology; D017967:Zinc Compounds / Q000494:pharmacology; D000093542:Gemcitabine
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D002712:Chlorides; D005296:Ferrous Compounds; D019216:Metals, Heavy; D017967:Zinc Compounds; C470210:decamethylferrocenium; D003841:Deoxycytidine; D014747:Vinblastine; C016837:zinc chloride; D008668:Metallothionein; D016190:Carboplatin; D019256:Cadmium Chloride; D019327:Copper Sulfate; D017239:Paclitaxel; D002945:Cisplatin; D000093542:Gemcitabine