MDM2/4 antagonists, on the other hand, are likely to be efficacious in malignancies in which MDM2 or MDM4 is overexpressed such as sarcomas, neuroblastomas and specific childhood leukemias.
In contrast, it had no effect on P-glycoprotein-mediated paclitaxel resistance in MDR1-transduced human leukemia K562 cells and multidrug resistance-related protein 1-mediated doxorubicin resistance in MRP1-transfected human epidermoid cancer KB-3-1 cells.
To establish whether MRP1 gene copy number is a common feature of the upregulation of MRP1 expression in cancer patients, we studied the MRP1 gene copy number in leukemia patients by fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) and real-time PCR.
To determine the antitumor effect of arsenic trioxide (As2O3) on multidrug-resistant cells, we applied 3 human leukemia cell lines: daunorubicin (DNR)-resistant cell line K562/D1-9, which overexpresses p-glycoprotein (Pgp); DNR and 1-beta-D-arabinofuranosylcytosine (Ara-C) double-resistant cell line HL60/AD, which overexpresses multidrug resistance-associated protein (MRP1); and Bcl-2-transfected pre-B lineage leukemia cell line 697/Bcl-2.
Pgp activity was higher in CD34+ leukemia than in CD34- leukemia (2.26 +/- 1.50 vs 1.46 +/- 1.21 respectively, p = 0.003) and MRP1 activity was higher in CD34- leukemia than in CD34+ leukemia (1.77 +/- 0.40 vs 1.4 +/- 0.29 respectively, p = 0.004).