Reversal of multidrug resistance in human leukemia K562 by tamolarizine, a novel calcium antagonist.

A new type of organic Ca2+ channel blocker, tamolarizine, was examined for its reversing effect on multidrug-resistant tumor cells. Tamolarizine synergistically potentiated the cytotoxicity of doxorubicin for doxorubicin-resistant K562 cells (K562/DXR) at a concentration of 0.1-10 microM, but had hardly any synergistic effects in the parental cell line (K562) at the same concentration. Moreover, tamolarizine inhibits the P-glycoprotein pump-efflux activity in a dose-related manner and reduces the expression of the immunoreactive P-glycoprotein in K562/DXR cells as evaluated by cytofluorimetric assay. These results indicate that tamolarizine reverses the multidrug-resistance phenotype through direct interaction with P-glycoprotein.