Abstract

We investigated the effects of seven isoquinoline derivatives in overcoming resistance to vinblastine in Adriamycin-resistant mouse leukemia P388/ADR cells and human myelogeneous leukemia K562/ADR cells. N-(2-Methylpiperazyl)-5-isoquinoline-sulfonamide (H-7), N-[2-(methylamino)ethyl]-5-isoquinolinesulfonamide (H-8), and N-(2-aminoethyl)-5-isoquinolinesulfonamide (H-9) did not reverse resistance to vinblastine in these resistant cells. N-[2-[N-[3-(4-Chlorophenyl)-2-propenyl]amino]ethyl]-5- isoquinolinesulfonamide (H-86) and N-[2-[N-[3-(4-chlorophenyl)-1-methyl-2-propenyl]- amino]ethyl]-5-isoquinolinesulfonamide (H-87) caused significant accumulation of intracellular vinblastine and marked reversal of the resistance to vinblastine in both resistant cell lines. Addition of a formyl group at the terminal amino group of H-86 (H-85) or addition of an aminoethyl group to the nitrogen atom at the sulfonamide group of H-86 (W-66) reduced those activities. The activity on vinblastine accumulation seems to correlated with the hydrophobicity of the compounds. The compounds that effectively reversed resistance to vinblastine inhibited [3H]vinblastine efflux and photoaffinity labeling of P-glycoprotein with a photosensitive analogue of vinblastine, N-(p-azido-(3-[125I]iodo)-salicyl)-N'-beta-aminoethylvindesine. Although these isoquinoline derivatives inhibited protein kinase A and protein kinase C with various potencies, these inhibitory activities did not correlate with the reversal of drug resistance. These results indicate that hydrophobic isoquinoline derivatives reverse multidrug resistance due to the suppression of drug binding to P-glycoprotein, without involvement of their activities on protein kinase A and protein kinase C.