Increase of alkaline phosphatase in multidrug-resistant tumor cells and their cross-resistance to 6-thioguanine.

The expression of alkaline phosphatase (AP) was analyzed in multidrug-resistant (MDR) tumor cells (sarcoma 180, lung carcinoma, and renal cell carcinoma cell lines) by means of immunocytochemistry. MDR cell cultures showed an overexpression of AP and a cross-resistance to 6-thioguanine (6-TG, CAS 154-42-7). Significant correlations between AP expression and doxorubicin or vincristine resistance and P-glycoprotein (P-170) expression were found in these cell cultures. A specific AP inhibitor, levamisole, reversed resistance to 6-TG, but not to doxorubicin. This indicates that 6-TG resistance is certainly associated to P-170 but a causal function of AP for the development of MDR does not exist.