Improving the cytometric detection of doxorubicin resistance in osteosarcoma cells by determining cellular doxorubicin/DNA ratio.

To study the influence of cellular DNA content on the accumulation and efficacy of doxorubicin (DOX), we characterized P-glycoprotein (Pgp)-positive and -negative murine osteosarcoma cell clones that had a different DNA index. Statistical analysis demonstrated that the cytotoxic effects of DOX correlated significantly with the ratio of intracellular DOX accumulation divided by the cellular DNA content (DOX/DNA ratio) (P = 0.001), but not with the intracellular DOX accumulation (P = 0.16). We also tested this relationship for Pgp-negative human osteosarcoma cell lines with a different DNA ploidy, and found that these Pgp-negative cell lines all had similar DOX/DNA ratios. These results indicate that the DOX/DNA ratio is a determinant for the effects of DOX in osteosarcoma cells, regardless of their Pgp status and DNA ploidy. Thus, consideration of the cellular DNA content as well as the intracellular DOX accumulation is important to accurately detect DOX resistance.