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. 1999 Oct;81(3):423–430. doi: 10.1038/sj.bjc.6690711

Preferential killing of multidrug-resistant KB cells by inhibitors of glucosylceramide synthase

K M Nicholson 1, D M Quinn 1, G L Kellett 1, J R Warr 1
PMCID: PMC2362922  PMID: 10507766

Abstract

This study has compared the preferential killing of three multidrug-resistant (MDR) KB cell lines, KB-C1, KB-A1 and KB-V1 by two inhibitors of glucosylceramide synthase, 1-phenyl-2-decanoylamino-3-morpholino-1-propanol (PDMP) and 1-phenyl-2-hexadecanoylamino-3-pyrrolidino-1-propanol (PPPP), to the killing produced by these compounds in the drug-sensitive cell line, KB-3-1. Both of the inhibitors caused much greater induction of apoptosis in each of the three MDR cell lines than in the drug-sensitive cell line, as judged by morphological assay and confirmed by poly-(ADP-ribose)-polymerase cleavage. The highest level of apoptosis was produced following 24-h exposure to 5 μM PPPP. This treatment produced 75.8 (± 7.1)%, 73.6 (± 9.8)% and 75.3 (± 6.4)% apoptotic cells in the three MDR cell lines respectively, compared to 19.0 (± 9.8)% in the drug-sensitive cell line. A reduction in glucosylceramide level following inhibitor treatment occurred in KB-3-1 cells as well as in the MDR cell lines, suggesting that the increased apoptotic response in the MDR cells reflected a different downstream response to changes in the levels of this lipid in these cells compared to that in the drug-sensitive cells. These results suggest that the manipulation of glucosylceramide levels may be a fruitful way of causing the preferential killing of MDR cells in vitro and possibly in vivo. © 1999 Cancer Research Campaign

Keywords: multidrug-resistance, glucosylceramide, apoptosis

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Selected References

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