Cross-resistance, cisplatin accumulation, and platinum-DNA adduct formation and removal in cisplatin-sensitive and -resistant human hepatoma cell lines.

The BEL7404 human hepatoma cell line was selected in vitro for primary cisplatin resistance. A panel of four cisplatin-resistant sublines were generated which exhibited resistance to cisplatin (up to 34-fold) but were not cross-resistant to adriamycin, taxol, etoposide, or mitomycin C. Further characterization of this panel of cell lines revealed that increased cisplatin resistance was associated with decreased cisplatin accumulation in the selected sublines (up to 14-fold) relative to the parental BEL7404 cell line. A significant reduction in platinum-DNA adduct formation (9-fold) and ribosomal RNA gene-specific interstrand crosslink formation (12-fold) were also observed in the 7404-CP20 cell line. No differences in the rate of platinum efflux from the BEL7404 and 7404-CP20 cell lines were detected following a 4-h loading period, and total platinum-DNA adduct and gene-specific interstrand crosslink removal rates were similar in both cell lines. There were approximately 3-fold more total platinum-DNA adducts present in the BEL7404 cells relative to the 7404-CP20 cells at equitoxic concentrations of cisplatin, suggesting that DNA damage tolerance also contributes to the cisplatin resistance phenotype. Overall, these results indicate that decreased cisplatin accumulation is the major cisplatin resistance mechanism present in the in vitro-selected cell lines. This model system of acquired cisplatin resistance may be valuable in determining the molecular basis for decreased cisplatin uptake and be useful for the study of potential resistance modulators.