Chemotherapeutic drug resistance of side population cells derived from human gallbladder cancer cell line GBC-SD

Objective To investigate the drug resistance of side population cells in human gallbladder cancer cell line GBC-SD and explore its mechanism. Methods Drug sensitivity assays of 5chemotherapeutic agents were performed on side population cells (SP) and non-SP cells of GBC-SD.GBC-SD was cultured and then treated with the chemotherapeutic agent gemcitabine. The frequency of SP by FACS was measured. RT-PCR and Western blotting were used to detect the expression of AB-CG2 in both the SP and the corresponding non-SP subsets. Results After 1 d treatment with 4 chemotherapeutic agents (gemcitabine, cisplatin, 5-fluorouracil and mitoxantrone) in IC50 concentration to GBC-SD cell line, the reproductive ability of SP was higher than that of non-SP (P 0.05). The percentage of SP in GBC-SD treated with chemotherapeutic agent gemcitabine after 3 weeks was sharply elevated by FACS (8.02% ±0.13% vs 0.62% ±0.08%, P<0.05), and the expression of ABCG2mRNA and protein were increased in SP as compared with non-SP. Conclusion SP from human gallbladder cancer cell line GBC-SD, like stem cell, showed a heighten resistance to drugs. Increased expression of ABCG2 was largely responsible for the multi-drug resistance. Key words: Side population cells;  Multi-drug resistance;  Cancer stem cell