Multidrug-resistance circumvention and inhibition of [h-3] azidopine photolabeling of p-glycoprotein by new dihydropyridine derivatives displaying a low-affinity for calcium channels

This study was aimed to characterize the reversing activity of S16209 and S16317, two new dihydropyridines with low affinity for calcium channels. In vivo, S16209 (75 mg/kg) and S16317 (25 mg/kg) potentiate the antitumor activity of vincristine (VCR) in VCR-resistant leukemia bearing mice. In vitro, a complete sensitization to adriamycin (ADR) or VCR is obtained with 2.5 muM of S16209 in S1/tMDR and KB-A1 cells and with 2.5 muM of S16317 in S1/tMDR and P388/ADR-10 cells. These two compounds are also more potent than verapamil and cyclosporin A in increasing actinomycin-D cytotoxicity in DC-3F/AD cells. In the presence of ADR or VCR, a 4 h co-incubation followed by a post-incubation of 20 h with 2.5 muM S16209 is sufficient to completely overcome the resistance of human KB-A1 and S1/tMDR cells to these cytotoxic drugs. S16209 and S16317 increase ADR accumulation in resistant cells, and completely inhibit the photolabeling of P-gp by [H-3]azidopine at 100 and 10 muM, respectively, suggesting that the reversing activity of these two compounds is mainly due to a specific inhibition of the P-gp mediated efflux of cytotoxic drugs.