Sensitization and apoptosis augmentation of K562/ADM cells by anti-multidrug resistance gene peptide nucleic acid and antisense oligodeoxyribonucleotide.

Aim: To investigate the reversal effect and apoptosis enhancement of peptide nucleic acid (PNA) and antisense oligodeoxyribonucleotide (ASODN) targeted to multidrug resistance gene (mdr1) on human multidrug resistant leukemia K562/ADM cells.

Methods: A 15-mer PNA and the same sequence of ASODN, complementary to the 5' end of the AUG initiator codon-containing region of mdr1 messenger RNA (MDR1-PNA, MDR1-ASODN), were designed and synthesized. Proliferation and sensitivity to adriamycin of K562/ADM cells treated with MDR1-PNA- and MDR1-ASODN were analyzed with a MTT colorimetric assay. Apoptotic morphologies, P-glycoprotein (P-gp) expression, intracellular adriamycin accumulation, and cell cycle were measured.

Results: MDR1-PNA 1 to 10 micromol/L and MDR1-ASODN 2 to 20 micromol/L alone had no inhibitory effects on the proliferation of K562/ADM cells, but significantly inhibited the growth of K562/ADM cells cultured in adriamycin-containing medium. After treatment with MDR1-PNA and MDR1-ASODN, intracellular adriamycin accumulation in K562/ADM cells increased greatly and P-gp synthesis was strikingly reduced. The resistance to adriamycin of the drug-resistant cells was partly reversed and the cells were induced to apoptosis by adriamycin. The reversal efficacy of MDR1-PNA was 3.1-fold higher than that of the same sequence of MDR-ASODN, but neither MDR1-PNA nor MDR1-ASODN could completely block the mdr1/P-gp expression.

Conclusion: Sequence-special PNA targeted to mdr1 gene more effectively than the same sequence of MDR1-ASODN inhibited the expression of P-glycoprotein to overcome the drug-resistance.