Increased cation transport inmdr1-gene-expressing K562 cells

Cation-transport properties were compared in a human leukemic cell line (K562) and its vincristineselected,mdr1-gene-expressing sublines (K562/Vcr30 and K562/Vcr150) by the capacity of the cells to accumulate the potassium analogue thallium (²⁰¹Tl). Determination of the time course of thallium accumulation in the absence and presence of ouabain, an inhibitor of sodium-potassium adenosine triphosphatase (ATPase), showed that the initial (at 20 min) rate of ouabain-resistant uptake was about 70% higher in the K562/Vcr30 cells than in the parental line. The maximal rate (V_max) of ouabain-resistant uptake was 78 mmol/h for K562 cells and 115 mmol/h for K562/Vcr30 cells, and the Michaelis constant (K_m) was 0.37 and 0.18 mmol, respectively. Bumetanide (50 M), a specific inhibitor of ouabain-resistant Na–K–Cl cotransport, inhibited the elevated²⁰¹TI uptake in K562/Vcr150 cells but had no effect on cellular vincristine accumulation. Incubation with different multidrug resistance (MDR)-reversing agents (verapamil as well as cyclosporin A and its analogue PSC833) had no significant effect on²⁰¹Tl uptake. Membrane depolarization by an elevation of the potassium concentration in the incubation medium did not affect vincristine accumulation in any cell line, which indicated that the changed drug-transport properties inmdr1-gene-expressing cells were not due to membrane hyperpolarization. It was concluded that P-glycoprotein-positive cells have a more efficient ouabain-resistant cation-transport mechanism than to cells without P-glycoprotein. A functional relationship between this phenomenon and MDR was not identified.