Altered sensitivity of deoxyadenosine-resistant mouse leukemia L1210 cells to various kinase inhibitors

The deoxyadenosine-resistant mouse leukemia L1210 cell line (Y8) has previously been shown to have phenotypic differences that appear unrelated to the altered properties observed at the level of ribonucleotide reductase (RR). In response to various stress factors, the parental wild-type (WT) L1210 cell line undergoes cell cycle arrest; Y8 cells become apoptotic. These responses are p53-independent. Cell cycle regulation also appears different between the two cell lines, suggesting that Y8 cells are more apoptotic because of alterations in their cell cycle compared to WT cells. In order to study the relationships between cell cycle regulation and apoptosis, the effects of 2-aminopurine (2-AP), wortmannin, and PD98059, were studied on WT and Y8 cells. 2-AP induced G2/M block in both WT and Y8 cells with differences in G0/G1 and S phase contents between the two cell lines. Wortmannin induced G0/G1 block in Y8 cells, while exhibiting no effect on WT cells. PD98059 had no effect on the cell cycle of either WT or Y8 cells. In response to each inhibitor, Y8 cells underwent apoptosis to a much greater extent than the parental WT cell line. These data suggest that the specific pathways that converge on the cell cycle are altered and may be involved in the differences between a tumor cell to block in cell cycle or to undergo apoptosis.