PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Rita Pepponi AU - Giancarlo Marra AU - Maria Pia Fuggetta AU - Sabrina Falcinelli AU - Elena Pagani AU - Enzo Bonmassar AU - Josef Jiricny AU - Stefania D'Atri TI - The Effect of <em>O</em> <sup>6</sup>-Alkylguanine-DNA Alkyltransferase and Mismatch Repair Activities on the Sensitivity of Human Melanoma Cells to Temozolomide, 1,3-bis(2-Chloroethyl)1-nitrosourea, and Cisplatin AID - 10.1124/jpet.102.043950 DP - 2003 Feb 01 TA - Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics PG - 661--668 VI - 304 IP - 2 4099 - http://jpet.aspetjournals.org/content/304/2/661.short 4100 - http://jpet.aspetjournals.org/content/304/2/661.full SO - J Pharmacol Exp Ther2003 Feb 01; 304 AB - The prognosis of advanced melanoma is generally poor, because this tumor commonly exhibits intrinsic or acquired resistance to chemotherapy. In an attempt to identify the underlying causes of this resistance, we studied the roles played by the DNA repair enzymeO6-alkylguanine-DNA alkyltransferase (OGAT) and the mismatch repair (MMR) system in the sensitivity of melanoma cells to temozolomide (TMZ), 1,3-bis(2-chloroethyl)-1-nitrosourea (BCNU), or cis-diamminedichloroplatinum(II) (CDDP). To this end, OGAT levels and MMR efficiency of extracts of nine melanoma cell lines and selected clones derived from four of these lines were determined and correlated with the sensitivity of the respective cells to these drugs. The effectiveness ofO6-benzylguanine (BG), a specific OGAT inhibitor, in potentiating TMZ- or BCNU-mediated cytotoxicity was also evaluated. Our results demonstrate that MMR efficiency and OGAT levels strongly affect melanoma cell sensitivity to TMZ. In MMR-proficient cells, a direct correlation between OGAT levels and TMZ IC50 values was found. When OGAT activity was inhibited with BG, the sensitivity of these cells to TMZ increased and was then dictated largely by their MMR efficiency. MMR-deficient cells were highly resistant to the drug irrespective of their OGAT levels. Although OGAT activity and MMR status seemed to be the major determinants of melanoma sensitivity to TMZ, this was not the case for BCNU and CDDP; resistance to the latter drugs clearly involves processes other than the two DNA repair pathways analyzed in this study. The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics