Pheophorbide a (PhA), a chlorophyll catabolite, was shown to be an ABCG2 substrate based on Abcg2(-/-) knockout mouse studies (J. W. Jonker et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 99: 15649-15654, 2002). We developed a functional assay for ABCG2 using PhA and the ABCG2 inhibitor fumitremorgin C. In selected cell lines expressing high levels of P-glycoprotein, multidrug resistance-associated protein...

Tumor stem cells are a small subset of tumor cells with the ability of self-renewal and differentiation and are regarded as a cause of tumor growth and recurrence. Previously we have shown that stem-like label-retaining cells (LRCs) can be detected in nasopharynx, tongue, esophagus and xenograft tumors formed by nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) cell lines (5-8F, 6-10B and TMNE). The present study...

ABCG2 is an important member of ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter shown to confer drug resistance in cancer cells. Recent studies show that an epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI), gefitinib, is able to modulate the function of ABCG2 and reverse ABCG2-mediated multidrug resistance (MDR) in cancer cells. Additionally, ABCG2 expression has been shown to imp...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Cannabinoids are used therapeutically for the palliation of the adverse side effects associated with cancer chemotherapy. However, cannabinoids also inhibit both the activity and expression of the multidrug transporter, P-glycoprotein in vitro. Here we address the interaction of cannabinol (CBN), cannabidiol (CBD) and delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) with the related mu...

Accumulation of protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) in malignant cells is the basis of 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA)-mediated photodynamic therapy. We studied the expression of proteins that possibly affect ALA-mediated PpIX accumulation, namely oligopeptide transporter-1 and -2, ferrochelatase and ATP-binding cassette transporter G2 (ABCG2), in several tumor cell lines. Among these proteins, only ABCG2 cor...

ABCG2/BCRP is an ATP-binding cassette transporter that extrudes compounds from cells in the intestine, liver, kidney, and other organs, such as the mammary gland, affecting pharmacokinetics and milk secretion of antibiotics, anticancer drugs, and other compounds and mediating drug-drug interactions. In addition, ABCG2 expression in cancer cells may directly cause resistance by active efflux of ...

Sorafenib is a second-generation, orally active multikinase inhibitor that is approved for the treatment of patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma and patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma. We studied active transport of sorafenib in MDCK-II cells expressing human P-glycoprotein (P-gp/ABCB1) or ABCG2 (breast cancer resistance protein) or murine Abcg2. Sorafenib was moderately...

ABCG2 (also known as breast cancer resistance protein) is an ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter localized to the plasma membrane where it mediates the efflux of xenobiotics, including potential therapeutics. Studies investigating Abcg2 function at the blood-brain barrier in mouse models are often compared with human ABCG2 function. It is critical to understand the nature of species differen...

PURPOSE ABCC2 (MRP2) and ABCG2 (BCRP) transport various endogenous and exogenous compounds, including many anticancer drugs, into bile, feces, and urine. We investigated the possibly overlapping roles of Abcg2 and Abcc2 in the elimination of the anticancer drug methotrexate (MTX) and its toxic metabolite 7-hydroxymethotrexate (7OH-MTX). EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN We generated and characterized Abcc2...

The ATP binding cassette (ABC) half-transporter ABCG2 (MXR/BCRP/ABCP) is associated with mitoxantrone resistance accompanied by cross-resistance to a broad spectrum of cytotoxic drugs. Here we investigate the functional consequences of mutating a highly conserved lysine in the Walker A motif of the nucleotide binding domain (NBD) known to be critical for ATP binding and/or hydrolysis in ABC tra...