Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: EC:2.1.1.37 (DNA methyltransferase)
 4,983 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Selection of cells for resistance to vincristine or doxorubicin often induces overexpression of the multidrug resistance (MDR) genes, which encode the cell surface P-glycoproteins, as a result of gene amplification, transcriptional activation, or mRNA stabilization. The LMD1 and LMD4 cell lines were established after the transfer into mouse L cells of two independent yeast artificial chromosome clones containing 300 and 850 kb, respectively, of the human MDR locus. The human MDR1/PGY1 gene, but not the endogenous mouse mdr1a and mdr1b genes, was overexpressed as a result of gene amplification and transcriptional activation in various sublines of LMD1 and LMD4 cells selected for resistance to vincristine. Then we asked why human MDR1/PGY1 gene, but not mouse relevant gene, was expressed. Determination of the methylation status of cytosine residues at Msp I/Hap II cleavage sites (CCGG) in the promoter regions of human MDR1/PGY1 and mouse mdr1a revealed hypomethylation and hypermethylation of the human and mouse genes, respectively in LMD1, LMD4, and their vincristine-resistant derivatives. Various vincristine-resistant sublines were also established after exposure of LMD1 cells for 48 h to 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine, an inhibitor of DNA methyltransferase. These sublines exhibited overexpression of mouse mdr1a and mdr1b, but not of human MDR1/PGY1, as well as hypomethylation of the mouse mdr1a promoter region. Thus, the selective expression of human or mouse MDR genes in this cell system appears to be related to the methylation status of the respective gene promoter regions.
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PMID:Maintenance of hypomethylation status and preferential expression of exogenous human MDR1/PGY1 gene in mouse L cells by YAC mediated transfer. 954 28

Drug resistance genes can protect normal hematopoietic cells from the toxicity of anticancer agents. Because chemotherapeutic agents are often used in combination in current clinical protocols, coexpression of two different drug resistance genes should be useful in protecting normal bone marrow cells from the hematotoxicities caused by combination chemotherapy. In this study, we have combined the human multidrug resistance gene (MDR1) and human O6-methylguanine DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) gene as drug resistance genes. For the coexpression of two drug resistance genes, we have constructed two bicistronic retrovirus vectors. One vector is Ha-MDR-IRES-MGMT, in which translation of the MDR1 cDNA is cap-dependent and MGMT translation is dependent on an internal ribosome entry site (IRES). The other is Ha-MGMT-IRES-MDR, which has cap-dependent MGMT translation and IRES-dependent MDR1 translation. MGMT-negative HeLa derivative (MR) cells transduced with these retroviruses showed resistance to vincristine (from MDR1) and 1-(4-amino-2-methyl-5-pyrimidinyl)methyl-3-(2-chloroethyl)-3-nitrosou rea (ACN; from MGMT). Cells transduced with Ha-MDR-IRES-MGMT showed higher resistance to vincristine and lower resistance to ACNU than those transduced with Ha-MGMT-IRES-MDR. In any case, the resistance levels of cells transduced with either vector were high enough to select transduced cells with vincristine or ACNU. The expression levels of P-glycoprotein or MGMT in the transduced cells determined by FACS and Western blot analysis correlated well with the extent of resistance to vincristine and ACNU, respectively. All of the MGMT-transduced cells expressed higher amounts of MGMT than the MGMT-expressing parental cell line HeLa S3. Murine bone marrow cells transduced with Ha-MDR-IRES-MGMT and selected with vincristine also showed simultaneous resistance to vincristine and ACNU. These results suggest that bicistronic retroviral vectors allow the functional coexpression of two different types of drug resistance genes. This strategy could be applicable to any combination of drug resistance genes.
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PMID:Retroviral coexpression of two different types of drug resistance genes to protect normal cells from combination chemotherapy. 981 70

Myelosuppression is a major dose-limiting factor in cancer chemotherapy. Introduction of drug-resistance genes into bone marrow cells of cancer patients has been proposed to overcome this limitation. In theory, any gene whose expression protects cells against the toxic effects of chemotherapy should be useful in vivo for this purpose. Among such genes, human multidrug-resistance gene (MDR1) and O6-methylguanine DNA methyltransferase gene (MGMT) have been studied most extensively for this purpose, and clinical trials of drug-resistance gene therapy have been started in the US for cancer patients who undergo high-dose chemotherapy with autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. In Japan, our clinical protocol of MDR1 gene therapy, "A clinical study of drug-resistance gene therapy to improve the efficacy and safety of chemotherapy against breast cancer", has been approved by our IRB and submitted to the government. To improve the efficacy and safety of this drug-resistance gene therapy, we have constructed a series of MDR1-bicistronic retrovirus vectors using a retrovirus backbone of Harvey murine sarcoma virus and internal ribosome entry site (IRES) from picornavirus to coexpress a second gene with the MDR1 gene. MDR1-MGMT bicistronic vectors can be used to protect bone marrow cells of cancer patients from combination chemotherapy with MDR1-related anticancer agents and nitrosoureas. In addition, MDR1-bicistronic retrovirus vectors can be designed to use the MDR1 gene as an in vivo selectable marker to enrich the transduced cells which express therapeutic genes, if disease is curable by the expression of a single-peptide gene in bone marrow cells or any types of peripheral blood cells.
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PMID:[Gene therapy using anticancer drug-resistance genes]. 998 94

Cancer chemotherapy is the principal approach for urogenital cancers. However, the acquisition of resistance to anticancer agents is a critical factor that limits the successful treatment of malignancies. The multidrug resistant (MDR) phenotype has been widely recognized in cancer chemotherapy in urogenital tumors and the mechanisms underlying MDR have also been extensively studied. One of the principle mechanisms in MDR is caused by the overexpression of P-glycoprotein (P-gp), encoded by the multidrug resistance gene (MDR1). It functions as an ATP-dependent active efflux pump of chemotherapeutic agents in human cancer cells. Recently, other drug resistance proteins, including multidrug resistance-associated protein (MRP1) and cMOAT (or MRP2), were also identified from multidrug resistant cells. A functional analysis of MRP1 has shown that MRP1 may have the potential to act as a transporter of glutathione conjugates, which has been known as a central detoxification pathway in anticancer agents. Furthermore, several other resistance-related proteins (e.g. glutathione S-transferase, metallothionein, thioredoxin, topoisomerase I, II, O6-alkylguanine-DNA methyltransferase, etc.) have been found to be up- or down-regulated in resistant cells and these molecules are believed to contribute to the resistant phenotype as well. Based on the molecular characteristics identified in MDR, several experimental and clinical approaches have been studied to overcome MDR. One of these strategies is to reverse MDR by using such P-gp inhibitors as verapamil and cyclosporine A. In this review, we summarize the recent advances in MDR-related molecules and clinical trials to circumvent MDR in urogenital carcinomas.
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PMID:Mechanisms of drug resistance in chemotherapy for urogenital carcinoma. 1051 Aug 88

Resistance to the cytotoxic actions of antineoplastic drugs, whether intrinsic or acquired, remains a barrier to the establishment of curative chemotherapy regimens for advanced breast cancer. Over-expression of P-glycoprotein (P-gp), encoded by the MDR1 gene and known to mediate resistance to many antineoplastic drugs, may contribute to poor breast cancer treatment outcome. Nonetheless, the precise molecular mechanisms responsible for high or low level P-gp expression in breast cancer cells have not been established. We assessed the role of DNA hypermethylation near the MDR1 transcriptional regulatory region in MDR1 expression in MCF-7 breast cancer cells, which fail to express MDR1 mRNA, and MCF-7/ADR cells, known to express high MDR1 mRNA levels. When compared to MCF-7/ADR cells, MCF-7 cells manifested markedly diminished MDR1 transcription rates by nuclear run-off assay, but equivalent MDR1 promoter trans-activation activity in transient transfection experiments, indicating that cis factors were most likely responsible for the differences in MDR1 transcription between MCF-7/ADR cells and MCF-7 cells. Bisulfite genomic sequencing analyses revealed substantially less extensive MDR1 promoter methylation in MCF-7/ADR cells than in MCF-7 cells, suggesting that CpG dinucleotide methylation might contribute to the observed MDR1 transcription differences. Chromatin immunoprecipitation analyses indicated an inactive MDR1 chromatin conformation in MCF-7 cells, with a paucity of acetylated histones and the presence of 5-mC-binding proteins MeCP2 and MBD2, and an active MDR1 chromatin conformation in MCF-7/ADR cells, with an abundance of acetylated histones and the presence of the transcriptional trans-activator YB-1. Stable MCF-7 sublines which had been treated with the DNA methyltransferase inhibitor 5-azacytidine, exhibited a reduction in MDR1 promoter methylation and a complex MDR1 chromatin configuration, characterized by the simultaneous presence of transcriptional activators and repressors. In this state, MDR1 expression was markedly sensitive to treatment with the histone deacetylase inhibitor trichostatin A.
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PMID:MDR1 promoter hypermethylation in MCF-7 human breast cancer cells: changes in chromatin structure induced by treatment with 5-Aza-cytidine. 1525 26