The human MDR3 gene is a member of the multidrug resistance (MDR) gene family. The MDR3 P-glycoprotein is a transmembrane protein that translocates phosphatidylcholine. The MDR1 P-glycoprotein related transports cytotoxic drugs. Its overexpression can make cells resistant to a variety of drugs. Attempts to show that MDR3 P-glycoprotein can cause MDR have been unsuccessful thus far. Here, we report an increased directional transport of several MDR1 P-glycoprotein substrates, such as digoxin, paclitaxel, and vinblastine, through polarized monolayers of MDR3-transfected cells. Transport of other good MDR1 P-glycoprotein substrates, including cyclosporin A and dexamethasone, was not detectably increased. MDR3 P-glycoprotein-dependent transport of a short-chain phosphatidylcholine analog and drugs was inhibited by several MDR reversal agents and other drugs, indicating an interaction between these compounds and MDR3 P-gp. Insect cell membranes from Sf9 cells overexpressing MDR3 showed specific MgATP binding and a vanadate-dependent, Nethylmaleimide-sensitive nucleotide trapping activity, visualized by covalent binding with [␣-32 P]8-azido-ATP. Nucleotide trapping was (nearly) abolished by paclitaxel, vinblastine, and the MDR reversal agents verapamil, cyclosporin A, and PSC 833. We conclude that MDR3 P-glycoprotein can bind and transport a subset of MDR1 P-glycoprotein substrates. The rate of MDR3 Pglycoprotein-mediated transport is low for most drugs, explaining why this protein is not detectably involved in multidrug resistance. It remains possible, however, that drug binding to MDR3 P-glycoprotein could adversely affect phospholipid or toxin secretion under conditions of stress (e.g. in pregnant heterozygotes with one MDR3 null allele).
P-glycoproteins (P-gps)1 are 170-kDa glycosylated membrane proteins that actively transport their substrates out of the cell. Two P-gp genes have been identified in humans. The human MDR1 gene encodes a drug transporting P-gp that can actively extrude a range of cytotoxic anticancer drugs from the cytoplasm. Overexpression of this P-gp gene results in a decreased intracellular accumulation of these drugs and renders the cell multidrug resistant (1-3). The second human P-gp gene is MDR3 (also known as MDR2) (4, 5). Attempts to obtain resistance against cytotoxic drugs by transfecting drug-sensitive cell lines with the MDR3 cDNA or its mouse homolog, Mdr2, yielded only negative results (4, 6 -9). Amplification or activation of the MDR3 gene, independent of the closely linked MDR1, has never been found in multidrug-resistant cell lines (10 -12). Nevertheless, two studies suggest a role for MDR3 P-gp in drug transport: 1) analysis of B-cell leukemias showed a correlation between MDR3 overexpression and daunorubicin transport (13, 14), and 2) Kino et al. (15) found low level resistance against the antifungal agent aureobasidin A in yeast transformed with the human MDR3 cDNA.The function of the murine homolog of human MDR3 P-gp, Mdr2 P-gp, became clear when Smit et al. (16,17) generated...