Decreased functional activity of multidrug resistance protein in primary colorectal cancer

Background The ATP-Binding Cassette (ABC)-transporter MultiDrug Resistance Protein 1 (MDR1) and Multidrug Resistance Related Protein 1 (MRP1) are expressed on the surface of enterocytes, which has led to the belief that these high capacity transporters are responsible for modulating chemosensitvity of colorectal cancer. Several immunohistochemistry and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) studies have provided controversial results in regards to the expression levels of these two ABC-transporters in colorectal cancer. Our study was designed to determine the yet uninvestigated functional activity of MDR1 and MRP1 transporters in normal human enterocytes compared to colorectal cancer cells from surgical biopsies. Methods 100 colorectal cancer and 28 adjacent healthy mucosa samples were obtained by intraoperative surgical sampling. Activity of MDR1 and MRP1 of viable epithelial and cancer cells were determined separately with the modified calcein-assay for multidrug resistance activity and sufficient data of 73 cancer and 11 healthy mucosa was analyzed statistically. Results Significantly decreased mean MDR1 activity was found in primary colorectal cancer samples compared to normal mucosa, while mean MRP1 activity showed no significant change. Functional activity was not affected by gender, age, stage or grade and localization of the tumor. Conclusion We found lower MDR activity in cancer cells versus adjacent, apparently, healthy control tissue, thus, contrary to general belief, MDR activity seems not to play a major role in primary drug resistance, but might rather explain preferential/selective activity of Irinotecan and/or Oxaliplatin. Still, this picture might be more complex since chemotherapy by itself might alter MDR activity, and furthermore, today limited data is available about MDR activity of cancer stem cells in colorectal cancers. Virtual slides The virtual slide(s) for this article can be found here: http://www.diagnosticpathology.diagnomx.eu/vs/1675739129145824