Mitomycin C cross-resistance induced by adriamycin in human ovarian cancer cells in vitro

We prepared Adriamycin-resistant cancer cells by exposing an ovarian serous cystadenocarcinoma cell line to the drug. The resistant cells also showed cross-resistance to a wide variety of other compounds, including vincristine, vinblastine, actinomycin D, daunorubicin, mitomycin C and carboquone. Against vincristine, the cells showed a greater than 5,000-fold increase in resistance, far surpassing their resistance to the selection drug. The resistant cells displayed a decrease in intracellular Adriamycin content and an increase in the mRNA of the mdr-1 gene coding for P-glycoprotein, with no amplification of the DNA. In revertant cells, resistance to Adriamycin was lost, but that to mitomycin C was maintained. Adriamycin resistance was partially overcome by the addition of verapamil or cyclosporin A, but cross-resistance to mitomycin C was not influenced at all. These results strongly suggest that the resistance to mitomycin C observed in our Adriamycin-resistant cells was due to some other mechanism than that causing multidrug resistance.