Expression of multidrug resistance (p-glycoprotein) mdr1 and mdr2 genes in human hepatocellular carcinomas and liver metastases of colonic tumors.

Overexpression of P-glycoproteins (P-gp), encoded by multidrug resistance (MDR) genes is responsible for multidrug resistance in animal cells. We analyzed the expression of MDR genes in human hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC) and liver metastases of colon tumors by an RNase protection assay. Our results indicated that both genes were not consistently overexpressed in these tumors, whereas MDR2 is often underexpressed in the metastatic tumors. Invasion of colon tumors to livers decreased MDR1 expression. These data suggest differential regulation mechanisms for the expression of MDR1 and MDR2 genes in these tumors, and a complex drug-resistance mechanism for liver cancers.