P-glycoprotein is expressed and causes resistance to chemotherapy in EBV-positive T-cell lymphoproliferative diseases.

Epstein-Barr virus-positive T-cell lymphoproliferative diseases (EBV-T-LPDs) are rare lymphomas with poor prognosis. Although chemotherapeutic strategies such as CHOP have been often selected, they have exhibited only limited efficacy. To clarify the mechanism of chemoresistance, we examined P-glycoprotein (P-gp) expression. P-gp acts as an energy-dependent efflux pump that excretes drugs from the cytoplasm, resulting in low-intracellular drug concentrations and poor sensitivity to chemotherapy. We examined P-gp expression in EBV-positive cells by immunohistochemistry staining in three patients of EBV-T-LPDs and the expression was detected in all patients. We also examined mdr1 mRNA expression by reverse-transcriptase polymerase-chain reaction (RT-PCR) in EBV-positive tumor cells from these patients and additional three patients. The expression was detected in all examined patients. In five EBV-T-LPDs patients, P-gp function was detected by Rhodamine-123 efflux assay in these cells. The efflux was inhibited by treatment with a P-gp inhibitor, cyclosporine A (CsA). We also examined and detected P-gp expression in EBV-positive T-cell lines SNT8 and SNT16 established from EBV-T-LPDs patients, by RT-PCR and western blotting. The function was also detected by Rhodamine-123 efflux in these cell lines. Inhibition and knock down of P-gp by CsA and siRNA, respectively, enhanced etoposide- and doxorubicin-induced cell death in the EBV-positive T-cell lines. Finally, we infected the T-cell line MOLT4 with EBV, and found that mdr1 mRNA expression and Rhodamine 123 efflux were upregulated after infection. These results indicated that enhanced P-gp expression contributed to the chemoresistance of EBV-T-LPDs.