Role of gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase-mediated glutathione transport on the radiosensitivity of B16 melanoma variant cell lines.

Purpose: To elucidate the role of gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase-mediated glutathione transport on the radiosensitivity of B16 melanoma variant cell lines.

Methods And Materials: B16 melanoma variant cell lines were examined for their levels of gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase (GGTP; E.C. 2.3.2.2), a plasma membrane-associated ectoenzyme that is involved in the transport of extracellular glutathione, by flow cytometric and biochemical analysis. B16 cell lines were examined for rates of de novo glutathione synthesis from extracellular glutathione and for their sensitivity to gamma-irradiation and glutathione synthesis inhibition. The GGTP inhibitors were examined for their effect on the radiosensitivity of B16 melanoma cells.

Results: B16-F10-BL6 (BL6) melanoma cells were shown to express a 20-fold higher level of GGTP than the B16-F1 melanoma variant cells. Cultures of BL6 and B16-F1 cells depleted extracellular glutathione at rates of 2.4 and < 0.1 nmol glutathione/10(6) cells/h, respectively, and BL6 cells exported glutathione at a rate 7.2-fold higher than B16-F1 cells (710 and 98 pmol glutathione/10(6) cells/h, respectively). BL6 melanoma cells replenished exhausted intracellular glutathione levels from an extracellular glutathione source at a rate of 1.21 nmol glutathione/h (18% basal glutathione/h); however, B16-F1 cells lacked the capacity to replenish intracellular glutathione despite the presence of exogenous glutathione in the culture medium. BL6 melanoma cells were radioresistant compared to the B16-F1 cell line, exhibiting extrapolation numbers (ñ) of 14.9 and 1.0, respectively, and a lower surviving fraction to a wide range of radiation doses. The GGTP inhibitor combination of L-serine and sodium borate blocked the repletion of intracellular glutathione and in the presence or absence of buthionine sulfoximine-mediated depletion of glutathione reverses the radiation resistance in BL6 melanoma cells to near baseline levels observed with the B16-F1 parent clone. Serine-borate treatment of low-GGTP expressing B16-F1 cells had no effect on the ñ value or the surviving fraction of cells to a range of ionizing irradiation doses.

Conclusions: These results suggest that GGTP plays an important role in the extracellular metabolism and transport of glutathione, which also provides radioresistance to BL6 melanoma cells in vitro.