Introduction of clusterin gene into human renal cell carcinoma cells enhances their resistance to cytotoxic chemotherapy through inhibition of apoptosis both in vitro and in vivo.

Recent studies have revealed the powerful antiapoptotic activity of clusterin in various malignant tumors; however, the significance of clusterin expression in the acquisition of a resistant phenotype against several kinds of treatment in human renal cell carcinoma (RCC) has not been well characterized. We, therefore, transfected the clusterin cDNA into RCC ACHN cells, that scarcely express clusterin protein, to examine whether overexpression of clusterin inhibits chemotherapy-induced apoptosis both in vitro and in vivo. Although no significant differences were observed in the in vitro growth rates between clusterin-transfected ACHN (ACHN/CL) and the vector only-transfected cell line (ACHN/Co), ACHN/CL exhibited high resistance to cisplatin treatment compared with ACHN/Co, with a greater than 5-fold higher IC(50) through the inhibition of apoptotic cell death, which was demonstrated by DNA fragmentation analysis and western blotting of PARP protein. Moreover, intravenous administration of cisplatin into athymic nude mice bearing ACHN/CL tumors resulted in 2- to 3-times faster tumor growth compared with ACHN/Co tumors. These findings suggest that clusterin overexpression helps confer a chemoresistant phenotype through inhibition of apoptosis in human RCC cells.