Overexpression of ribonucleotide reductase as a mechanism of resistance to 2,2-difluorodeoxycytidine in the human KB cancer cell line

Yih Gang Goan, Bingsen Zhou, Edward Hu, Shu Mi, Yun Yen

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

210 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In this study, human oropharyngeal epidermoid carcinoma KB cells that were resistant to 2,2-difluorodeoxycytidine (dFdCyd) were selected and designated the KB-Gem clone. The KB parental cell line IC50 was 0.3 μM dFdCyd, as compared with the KB-Gem clone IC50 of 32 μM dFdCyd. The KB-Gem clone demonstrated overexpression of ribonucleotide reductase (RR) M2 subunit mRNA (9-fold) and overexpression of M2 protein (2-fold); RR activity was 2.3- fold higher than the KB parental cell line. Both the dATP and dCTP pools of the KB-Gem clone increased 2-fold over the parental cell line, with no change in the dGTP and dTTP pools. Reverse transcriptase-PCR was used to clone the cDNA of deoxycytidine kinase (DCK). Resulting sequences revealed two silent mutations in the KB-Gem clone. The amino acid sequence of the DCK protein and mRNA expression remained unchanged. The KB-Gem clone's DCK enzyme activity was 56% of that of the parental cell line. After the endogenous dNTPs were removed with a G-25 column, no difference was evident between the enzyme activities of the KB-Gem clone and parental cells. Thus, contrary to previous hypotheses, DCK deficiency does not play the primary role in the resistance mechanism of dFdCyd, accepting a secondary role to the overexpression of the target gene, RR, and pool expansion.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)4204-4207
Number of pages4
JournalCancer Research
Volume59
Issue number17
Publication statusPublished - Sept 1 1999
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Oncology
  • Cancer Research

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