BIOCHEMICAL-CHARACTERIZATION OF U937 CELLS RESISTANT TO L-ASPARAGINASE - THE ROLE OF ASPARAGINE SYNTHETASE

  • 1 April 1989
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 3  (4) , 294-297
Abstract
A human histiocytic lymphoma cell line, U937, is a highly sensitive to L-asparaginase with an ID50 of about 0.0001 U/ml after 72 hr of culture. When U937 cells were made resistant to either L-asparagine (1 U/ml) or asparagine deprivation, the activity of asparagine synthetase increased to 80- or 7-fold of the wild type, respectively. The phenotype of the resistance to L-asparaginase turned out to be stable under nonselective conditions for over several months. The hybrids between L-asparaginase sensitive (Molt4) and resistant (HL-60) cell lines revealed the latter phenotype in terms of L-asparaginase sensitivity and the activity of asparagine synthetase. Furthermore, U937 cells resistant to L-asparaginase could survive in glutamine-free media with 1.5-fold elevation of glutamine synthetase activity. These results altogether clarify the role of asparagine synthetase in L-asparaginase toxicity and have a good implication for the clinical use of L-asparaginase.