Cloning and functional characterization of TCRP1, a novel gene mediating resistance to cisplatin in an oral squamous cell carcinoma cell line.

To explore the mechanisms of chemotherapy resistance, we previously established a multi-drug resistant cell line, Tca8113/Pingyangmycin (Tca8113/PYM) and identified differential expression in known genes and ESTs using microarray analysis. From among those ESTs we have now identified a novel gene producing an mRNA of 1834 nucleotides translated into a protein having 235 amino acids. This gene was denominated as tongue cancer resistance-associated protein 1 gene (TCRP1, accession number: EF363480). We further determined its functional characteristics. The results demonstrate that TCRP1 mediates a specific resistance to cisplatin in Tca8113 cells by reducing the cisplatin-induced apoptosis. This suggests that TCRP1 might be a novel molecular target to develop agents to reverse cisplatin-induced chemoresistance.