[Gene amplification in murine leukemia cells with multiple drug resistance acquired in vivo]

The P388rm and P388rx cell lines resistant to antracycline antibiotics were obtained as a result of chemotherapy of mice bearing P388 leukemia, by means of increasing dosages of rubomycin and ruboxyl, respectively. These cell lines possessed cross-resistance to vinblastine, vincristine, colchicine, actinomycin D and some other drugs. Multidrug resistance (MDR) of P388rm and P388rx is due to decreased uptake of different cytotoxic compounds by the cells. Development of resistance to rubomycin and ruboxyl was accompanied by the appearance of additional chromosomal structures--long homogeneously staining regions (HSRs), double minute chromosomes and others usually containing amplified DNA sequences. Southern blot-hybridization with cloned DNA fragments amplified in Djungarian and Chinese hamster cell lines having MDR has revealed in P388rm and P388rx cells approximately 50-fold amplification of mdr and pC52 genes. Thus, in mouse leukemia cells which acquired MDR in vivo, as a result of chemotherapy, amplification is observed of the same genes that undergo amplification during selection of cell cultures for MDR in vitro.