Toshiro Iwahashi

Establishment and evaluation of MRK16-magnetic cell sorting assays for detecting low expression of multidrug resistance P-glycoprotein using human leukemia cell lines and peripheral blood cells from healthy donors

Two types of magnetic cell sorting assays, termed MRK16-MACS and MRK16-MACS-FACS, have been established to detect low expression level of P-glycoprotein (P-gp) using a monoclonal antibody MRK16, which recognizes a cell surface epitope of P-gp. With K-562 and U-937 cell lines, which are known to express low levels of P-gp and hence routinely used as negative control cell lines in conventional flow cytometry, both assays gave significantly positive reactivities indicating improved specificity and sensitivity of these assays. The findings in the dilution test, where P-gp-positive cells were added to P-gp-negative cells at various ratios, demonstrated that the MRK16-MACS assay is quantitative and capable of detecting small numbers of P-gp-positive cells as few as 2.5% of the total cells tested. Furthermore, specific enrichment of P-gp-expressing cells in magnetic cell sorting assays was verified by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis and functional assay for P-gp with Rhodamine 123. The availability of such magnetic cell sorting assays may offer an approach to quantitate low level of P-gp expression.

Selective killing of carcinoembryonic-antigen (CEA)-producing cells in vitro by the immunoconjugate cytorhodin-S and CEA-reactive cytorhodin-S antibody CA208.

SummaryCytorhodin-S, an anthracycline derivative, was covalently coupled to a monoclonal antibody (mAb) CA208, against carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) in order to achieve selective killing of a CEA-producing colon carcinoma cell line, COLO 205. The conjugate (15 molecules of drugs/antibody) retained substantial antibody activity as well as drug activity as assessed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and 24-h L1210 proliferation assay, respectively. Furthermore, the conjugate inhibited the growth of COLO 205 cells in a short-term cytostatic assay. This cytostatic effect of the immunoconjugate on COLO 205 cells was inhibited in a dose-dependent manner by pretreatment of the cells with unconjugated CA208 mAb. In addition, chloroquine, a lysosomotropic agent, inhibited the cytostatic effect of the immunoconjugate, indicating the involvement of lysosomal enzymes in releasing drugs from the immunoconjugate. The antibody (CA208) was significantly incorporated into the cytoplasm of COLO 205 cells as demonstrated by immuno-electron microscopy. These in vitro results indicate that cytorhodin-S may be a good partner in immunoconjugates. However, in vivo animal experiments with the immunoconjugate revealed that the immunoconjugate was not so effective in prolonging survival. Thus, in vivo efficacy of this immunoconjugate remains to be further improved in application to cancer immunotherapy.