1. Academic Validation
  2. Retroviral transfer of the human MDR1 gene confers resistance to bisantrene-specific hematotoxicity

Retroviral transfer of the human MDR1 gene confers resistance to bisantrene-specific hematotoxicity

  • Clin Cancer Res. 1996 Jun;2(6):973-80.
I Aksentijevich 1 C O Cardarelli I Pastan M M Gottesman
Affiliations

Affiliation

  • 1 Laboratories of Cell Biology and Molecular Biology, National Cancer Institute, NIH, Bethesda, Maryland 20892-4255, USA.
PMID: 9816258
Abstract

In this work, we demonstrate a protective effect conferred by the human multidrug resistance gene (MDR1) to populations of the murine hematopoietic system against the toxic effects of bisantrene, a novel intercalating cytotoxic agent under investigation as an Anticancer agent. In vitro, MDR1-expressing cell lines are highly cross-resistant to bisantrene, and low levels of P-glycoprotein (the MDR1 gene product cell surface protein) confer resistance to the drug. MDR1-positive mice were generated after transplantation of bone marrow cells (BMC) transduced in vitro with a MDR1 retrovirus. Control mice were transplanted with BMC transduced with the neomycin resistance gene. Administration of a single i.v. dose of 50 mg/kg of bisantrene resulted in a decrease of the total WBC count of approximately 40%. In contrast, a decrease of the total WBC count of only 17% was observed in mice transplanted with MDR1-transduced BMC. Immunofluorescence studies with cell lineage-specific monoclonal Antibodies showed that bisantrene was specifically toxic for B lymphocytes and macrophages. Double-staining with MRK16 (a monoclonal antibody specific for P-glycoprotein) demonstrated that a single dose of bisantrene increased the relative number of MDR1-transduced positive B cells, macrophages, and (to some extent) granulocytes when compared to the number found in MDR1-untreated mice or the bisantrene-treated neomycin-transduced control mice. These results provide in vivo evidence that bisantrene is a hematotoxic drug capable of selecting for MDR1-transduced hematopoietic cells. Bisantrene might be useful for gene therapy as an in vivo selective agent for cells transduced with MDR1 vectors that also coexpress therapeutic genes of interest.

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