Expression of retroviral vectors containing the human multidrug resistance 1 cDNA in hematopoietic cells of transplanted mice

Transfer of the human multidrug resistance 1 (MDR1) gene to hematopoietic stem cells offers an approach to overcome the myelosuppression caused by a number of antineoplastic drugs. This study was designed to determine the effect of MDR1 gene transfer on overall P- glycoprotein (P-gp) expression in murine hematopoietic cells. Mice were transplanted with bone marrow cells infected with either of two different MDR1 retroviral vectors. A reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction-based assay was used to quantify expression levels of both endogenous and vector-derived P-gp encoding transcripts in hematopoietic cells of transplanted mice. Expression of both a truncated and full-length MDR1 mRNA species was noted in bone marrow and spleen colony cells. The truncated message resulted from cryptic mRNA splice sites within the MDR1 cDNA and was detected with both vectors. Full-length message levels exceeded those from the endogenous genes in all but one case and roughly approximated that seen in the modestly drug-resistant cell line SW620. We conclude that transfer of MDR1 retroviral vectors resulted in a significant increase in P-gp expression in most cases; however, aberrant splicing of MDR1 transcripts can result in reduced expression of vector-derived P-gp.