Isolation and characterization of VP-16 resistant human leukemia cell line

VP-16 resistant cells, designated VP-16K6-1 (K6-1) were isolated from human acute lymphoblastic leukemia cell line RPMI 8402. IC50 value against VP-16 were 11-fold higher than their sensitive parental cell line. The membrane permeability of the drug was not responsible for resistance in K6-1 cells. K6-1 cells showed resistance in drug-induced DNA strand breaks (single strand breaks) determined by the alkaline sucrose gradient sedimentation method. Dot-blot analysis of RNA extracted from 2 cell lines showed that the mRNA levels of DNA topoisomerase II in K6-1 cells decreased slightly compared with that of parent cells. However, Topo II activities were similar in wild-type and K6-1 cells. In addition, K6-1 cells exhibited cross-resistance only to VM-26. These data suggest that a reduced intracellular Topo II level may contribute to drug resistance as an important factor in K6-1 cells.