Influence of sequential exposure to R-verapamil or B8509-035 on rhodamine 123 accumulation in human lymphoblastoid cell lines

Modulation of multidrug resistance with dexniguldipine hydrochloride (B8509-035) in the CC531 rat colon carcinoma model

The chemosensitizing potency of dexniguldipine hydrochloride (B8509-035) on epidoxorubicin was assessed in a multidrug-resistant (MDR) tumour model, the intrinsic MDR rat colon carcinoma CC531. In vitro in the sulphorhodamine B cell-viability assay the cytotoxicity of epidoxorubicin was increased approximately 15-fold by co-incubation with 50 ng/ml dexniguldipine. In vivo concentrations of dexniguldipine 5 h after a single oral dose of 30 mg/kg were 72 (+/- 19 SD) ng/ml in plasma and 925 (+/- 495 SD) ng/g in tumour tissue. Levels of the metabolite of dexniguldipine, M-1, which has the same chemosensitizing potential, were 26 (+/- 6 SD) ng/ml and 289 (+/- 127 SD) ng/g respectively. The efficacy of treatment with 6 mg/kg epidoxorubicin applied intravenously combined with 30 mg kg-1 day-1 dexniguldipine administered orally for 3 days prior to epidoxorubicin injection was evaluated on tumours grown under the renal capsule. Dexniguldipine alone did not show antitumour effects in vivo. Dexniguldipine modestly, but consistently, potentiated the tumour-growth-inhibiting effect of epidoxorubicin, reaching statistical significance in two out of four experiments. In conclusion, these experiments show that dexniguldipine has potency as an MDR reverter in vitro and in vivo in this solid MDR tumour model.

Potent antisense oligonucleotides to the human multidrug resistance-1 mRNA are rationally selected by mapping RNA-accessible sites with oligonucleotide libraries

Antisense oligonucleotides can vary significantly and unpredictably in their ability to inhibit protein synthesis. Libraries of chimeric oligonucleotides and RNase H were used to cleave and thereby locate sites on human multidrug resistance-1 RNA transcripts that are relatively accessible to oligonucleotide hybridization. In cell culture, antisense sequences designed to target these sites were significantly more active than oligonucleotides selected at random. This methodology should be generally useful for identification of potent antisense sequences. Correlation between oligonucleotide activity in the cell culture assay and in an in vitro RNase H assay supports the proposed role of the enzyme in the mechanism of antisense suppression in the cell.

Mechanism of action of dexniguldipine-HCl (B8509-035), a new potent modulator of multidrug resistance

It has previously been shown that dexniguldipine-HCl (B8509-035) is a potent chemosensitizer in multidrug resistant cells [Hofmann et al., J Cancer Res Clin Oncol 118: 361-366, 1992]. It is shown here that dexniguldipine-HCl causes a dose-dependent reduction of the labeling of the P-glycoprotein by azidopine, indicating a competition of dexniguldipine-HCl with the photoaffinity label for the multidrug resistance gene 1 (MDR-1) product. Exposure to dexniguldipine-HCl results in a dose-dependent accumulation of rhodamine 123 in MDR-1 overexpressing cells. In the presence of 1 microM dexniguldipine-HCl, rhodamine 123 accumulated in multidrug resistant cells to similar levels as in the sensitive parental cell lines. At this concentration, dexniguldipine-HCl enhances the cytotoxicities of Adriamycin and vincristine. The resistance modulating factors (RMF), i.e. IC50 drug/IC50 drug + modulator, were found to be proportional to the expression of MDR-1, ranging from 8 to 42 for Adriamycin and from 16 to 63 for vincristine. Transfection with the MDR-1 gene was found to be sufficient to sensitize cells to the modulation by dexniguldipine-HCl. The compound does not affect the expression of the MDR-1 gene. Dexniguldipine-HCl has no effect on a multidrug resistant phenotype caused by a mutation of topoisomerase II. It is concluded that dexniguldipine-HCl modulates multidrug resistance by direct interaction with the P-glycoprotein.

In vitro effect of r-verapamil on acute myelogenous leukemia blast cells: studies of cytokine secretion and cytokine-dependent blast proliferation

The in vitro effect of the dextroisomer r-verapamil on blast cells derived from patients with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) was studied. R-verapamil caused a dose-dependent inhibition of AML blast proliferation in the presence of stem-cell factor, leukemia inhibitory factor, interleukin 4, interleukin 6, and interleukin 10 when these cytokines were tested both alone and in different combinations. R-verapamil also inhibited the growth of clonogenic AML blast cells. The antiproliferative effect was not specific for AML blast cells, because r-verapamil also inhibited cytokine-dependent proliferation of blast cells derived from patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The inhibitory effects of r-verapamil and anti-IL1 serum were additive, suggesting that the antiproliferative effect of r-verapamil does not depend solely on inhibition of IL1-mediated effects. Although r-verapamil inhibited spontaneous AML blast proliferation, for a majority of patients it caused only minimal, if any, inhibition of spontaneous cytokine secretion (IL1 alpha, IL1 beta, TNF alpha, IL6) by AML blast cells. Thus, although inhibition of IL1 effects may contribute in certain patients to the antiproliferative effect of r-verapamil, mechanisms other than IL1 inhibition seem to be more important in mediating the effects of r-verapamil.