Resistance to cisplatin and adriamyciN is associated with the inhibition of glutathione efflux in MCF-7-derived cells

The impact of the anti-cancer drugs cisplatin (CDDP) and adriamycin (ADR) was investigated on sensitive and resistant MCF-7-derived human breast cancer cells. Cytotoxicity was evaluated by MTT assay, reactive oxygen species (ROS), apoptosis and necrosis by flow cytometry, glutathione (GSH) by HPLC, and Bcl-2, Bax and PARP expression by Western blot. A perturbation of ROS and intracellular GSH levels, and the enhancement of both apoptosis and necrosis were observed in sensitive cells. Transfected MCF-7 cells overexpressing the anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 protein, as well as MCF-7-derived vincristine-resistant cell line (Vcr-R) were resistant to both drugs. This resistance was clearly associated with an unaltered GSH level and with the inhibition of an early GSH efflux. Vcr-R cell resistance seemed to rely on a different mechanism, since it was found to be independent of Bcl-2 expression. Since Bcl-2 overexpression confers the strongest degree of resistance of MCF-7-derived cells, our observations further highlight Bcl-2 as a prime pharmacological target to sensitize cancer cells to chemotherapeutic agents.