Further characterization of cyclophosphamide resistance: expression of CD95 and of bcl-2 in a CML cell line

Drug resistance is a common cause of treatment failure in oncology. In addition to the resistance caused by over-expression of p-glycoprotein and similar molecules other mechanisms are involved in the selection or induction of drug resistant tumor cells. In this study, we characterized a CML cell line made resistant to cyclophosphamide (KBM7-B5-180 3) further for the expression of apoptosis promoting and inhibiting molecules. We found that KBM7-B5-180 3 has a 3–4-fold over-expression of the receptor CD95 (Fas/Apo-1) compared with the parent line. The regulation of CD95 by cytokines was comparable to other types of cells. Despite the inducibility and over-expression of CD95, CD95 failed to trigger apoptosis in both the parent and the drug resistant line. The drug resistant line has a particular pattern of the expression of bcl-2 family members: bcl-2 protein and message were expressed to a similar extent, however, compared with the parent line, the message for bclx short was decreased. P-glycoprotein was not expressed in either cell line. Taken together we show here in a leukemia cell line that the phenotype of cyclophosphamide resistance is associated with a particular pattern of apoptosis-related molecules.