The multidrug-resistance associated protein MRP is a 180-to 195-kDa membrane protein associated with resistance of human tumor cells to cytotoxic drugs. We have investigated how MRP confers drug resistance in SW-1573 human lung carcinoma cells by generating a subline stably transfected with an expression vector containing MRP cDNA. MRP-overexpressing SW-1573 cells are resistant to doxorubicin, daunorubicin, vincristine, VP-16, colchicine, and rhodamine 123, but not to 4'-(9-acridinylamino)methanesulfon-manisidide or taxol. The intracellular accumulation of drug (daunorubicin, vincristine, (20) and pRc/RSV (Invitrogen). All cDNA fragments used for the assembly of the MRP cDNA were sequenced and the integrity of the MRP cDNA fragment in the resulting expression vectors, pJ3fl-MRP and pRc/RSV-MRP (Fig. 1) Abbreviations: MDR, multidrug resistance (resistant); Pgp, P-glycoprotein; SCLC, small-cell lung cancer; pH;, intracellular pH; m-AMSA, 4'-(9-acridinylamino)methanesulfon-m-anisidide. 8822The publication costs of this article were defrayed in part by page charge payment. This article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 U.S.C. §1734 solely to indicate this fact.

The multidrug resistance-associated protein (MRP) mediates the cellular excretion of many drugs, glutathione S-conjugates (GS-X) of lipophilic xenobiotics and endogenous cysteinyl leukotrienes. Increased MRP levels in tumor cells can cause multidrug resistance (MDR) by decreasing the intracellular drug concentration. The physiological role or roles of MRP remain ill-defined, however. We have generated MRP-deficient mice by using embryonic stem cell technology. Mice homozygous for the mrp mutant allele, mrp-/-, are viable and fertile, but their response to an inflammatory stimulus is impaired. We attribute this defect to a decreased secretion of leukotriene C4 (LTC4) from leukotriene-synthesizing cells. Moreover, the mrp-/- mice are hypersensitive to the anticancer drug etoposide. The phenotype of mrp-/- mice is consistent with a role for MRP as the main LTC4-exporter in leukotriene-synthesizing cells, and as an important drug exporter in drug-sensitive cells. Our results suggest that this ubiquitous GS-X pump is dispensable in mice, making treatment of MDR with MRP-specific reversal agents potentially feasible.

The human multidrug resistance-associated protein MRP confers resistance to various cytotoxic drugs by lowering the intracellular drug concentration. Recent evidence indicates that MRP can also transport glutathione S-conjugates across membranes. To study the transport properties of MRP in intact cells, we have expressed human MRP cDNA in the polarized pig kidney epithelial cell line LLC-PK1. MRP mainly localized to the basolateral plasma membrane of these cells, and not to the apical membrane, as determined by immunocytochemistry using confocal laser scanning and electron microscopy. In accordance with this localization, MRP caused increased transport of the glutathione S -conjugate S -(2, 4-dinitrophenyl)-glutathione and of the anticancer drug daunorubicin to the basal side of the epithelial cell layer. Sulfinpyrazone and probenecid, known inhibitors of multispecific organic anion transport, inhibited this basolateral transport, but not the apical transport of daunorubicin mediated by the apically localized human MDR1 P-glycoprotein in MDR1 -transfected LLC-PK1 cells. Probenecid and sulfinpyrazone may therefore be useful lead compounds for the development of clinical reversal agents specific for MRP-mediated drug resistance. ( J. Clin. Invest. 1996.