Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: EC:3.6.3.44 (P-glycoprotein)
 13,344 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Clinical resistance to pentavalent antimonials, in the form of pentostam (sodium stibogluconate) or glucantime (N-methylglucamine antimoniate), has long been recognized as a problem in Leishmaniasis. However, the mechanisms of resistance are unclear. We selected in vitro a Leishmania tropica line resistant to 1.2 mg/mL of Sb(V) of glucantime (GLU-R10). The cell line has a stable phenotype for at least 6 months and a resistance index of 1400-fold. The resistant line has no cross-resistance to pentostam or to SbCl3 and SbCl5. The resistance to glucantime was reverted by buthionine sulfoximine (BSO) and chlorambucil (CLB); however, thiol analyses by HPLC of wild-type and GLU-R10 cell lines, in the presence or absence of the drug, showed no differences between these two cell lines. The resistant line had a DNA amplification shown as a circular extrachromosomal element (G-circle) of approximately 22 kb. However, the specific probes for gamma-glutamyl cysteine synthetase, ornithine decarboxylase and trypanothione reductase did not recognize the G-circle amplified in the GLU-R10. The G-circle did not arise from the H region and was not related with P-glycoprotein Pgp-MDR- or Pgp-MRP-like genes. Northern blot analysis of the G-circle showed that a single transcript of approximately 6 kb was overexpressed in the resistant line. Molecular characterization of the G-circle would lead to the determination of the gene(s) involved in resistance to glucantime in Leishmania.
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PMID:Involvement of thiol metabolism in resistance to glucantime in Leishmania tropica. 980 32

Drug resistance, intrinsic or acquired, is a problem for all chemotherapeutic agents. In this review, we examine numerous strategies that have been tested or proposed to reverse drug resistance. Included among these strategies are approaches targeting the apoptosis pathway. Although the process of apoptosis is complex, it provides several potential sites for therapeutic intervention. A variety of targets and approaches are being pursued, including the suppression of proteins inhibiting apoptosis using antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs), and small molecules targeted at proteins that modulate apoptosis. An alternate strategy is based on numerous studies that have documented methylation of critical regions in the genome in human cancers. Consequently, efforts have been directed at re-expressing genes, including genes that affect drug sensitivity, using 5-azacytidine and 2'-deoxy-5-azacytidine (DAC, decitabine) as demethylating agents. While this strategy may be effective as a single modality, success will most likely be achieved if it is used to modulate gene expression in combination with other modalities such as chemotherapy. At a more basic level, attempts have been made to modulate glutathione (GSH) levels. Owing to its reactivity and high intracellular concentrations, GSH has been implicated in resistance to several chemotherapeutic agents. Several approaches designed to deplete intracellular GSH levels have been pursued including the use of buthionine-(S,R)-sulfoxime (BSO), a potent and specific inhibitor of gamma-glutamyl cysteine synthetase (gamma-GCS), the rate-limiting step in the synthesis of GSH, a hammerhead ribozyme against gamma-GCS mRNA to downregulate specifically its levels and targeting cJun expression to reduce GSH levels. Alternate strategies have targeted p53. The frequent occurrence of p53 mutations in human cancer has led to the development of numerous approaches to restore wild-type (wt) p53. The goals of these interventions are to either revert the malignant phenotype or enhance drug sensitivity. The approach most extensively investigated has utilized one of several viral vectors. An alternate approach, the use of small molecules to restore wt function to mutant p53, remains an option. Finally, the conceptually simplest mechanism of resistance is one that reduces intracellular drug accumulation. Such reduction can be effected by a variety of drug efflux pumps, of which the most widely studied is P-glycoprotein (Pgp). The first strategy utilized to inhibit Pgp function relied on the identification of non-chemotherapeutic agents as competitors. Other approaches have included the use of hammerhead ribozymes against the MDR-1 gene and MDR-1-targeted ASOs. Although modulation of drug resistance has not yet been proven to be an effective clinical tool, we have learned an enormous amount about drug resistance. Should we succeed, these pioneering basic and clinical studies will have paved the road for future developments.
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PMID:Strategies for reversing drug resistance. 1457 55

The relationship between the expression level of putative drug resistance factors and sensitivity to anticancer drugs in human normal renal proximal tubule epithelial cells (RPTEC) and 3 kinds of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) cells, VMRC-RCW (RCW), OS-RC-2 (OS2), TUHR14TKB (14TKB), was examined. RPTEC exhibited high expression of P-glycoprotein (Pgp), gamma-glutamyl cysteine synthetase (gammaGCS) and cis-diamminedichloroplatinum (II) (CDDP) resistance-related gene 9 (CRR9), low expression of vacuolar ATPase (V-ATPase) and no expression of multidrug resistance-associated protein 1 (MRP1). 14TKB exhibited high expression of gammaGCS and CRR9, low expression of Pgp and V-ATPase, and no expression of MRP1. OS2 showed high expression of CRR9, low expression of Pgp, gammaGCS and MRP1, and no expression of V-ATPase. RCW exhibited high expression of Pgp, MRP1 and CRR9 and low expression of gammaGCS and V-ATPase. The level of expression of the resistance factors varied among the cells. GST activity and GST-pi expression level of each cell were correlated, and there were high levels in OS2 and RPTEC. When the cytotoxicity of anticancer drugs against each cell was measured at 96 h, the sensitivity to CDDP and Doxorubicin (DXR) in RPTEC and RCW was lower than that in the other cells. Sensitivity to DXR was enhanced by treatment with the Pgp inhibitor, Verapamil, in proportion to the Pgp expression level, and the sensitivity to CDDP was increased by the gammaGCS inhibitor, Buthionine sulfoximine, in proportion to the gammaGCS expression level (corresponding to GSH content). Although a significant increase in sensitivity to CDDP was not observed by treatment of RCC with the V-ATPase inhibitor, Bafilomycin, the sensitivity to DXR in Bafilomycin-treated cells increased about 2-fold. However, no relation between drug sensitivity and V-ATPase expression was observed. The features (such as degree of resistance) varied among the RCC cell lines manifesting many resistance factors or to the contrary, lacking or having lowered resistance factors in comparison with normal cells. Therefore, it is necessary in clinical cancer chemotherapy to determine and measure the level of expression of each resistance factor in respective tumor tissue.
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PMID:Relationship between expression of drug-resistance factors and drug sensitivity in normal human renal proximal tubular epithelial cells in comparison with renal cell carcinoma. 1607 62