Decreased expression of the amplified mdr1 gene in revertants of multidrug-resistant human myelogenous leukemia K562 occurs without loss of amplified DNA.

Amplification and increased expression of the mdr1 gene associated with multidrug resistance in human tumors were found in multidrug-resistant sublines of human myelogenous leukemia K562 selected with vincristine (K562/VCR) or adriamycin (K562/ADM). In two revertant cell lines of K562/ADM, amplification of the mdr1 gene was maintained at the same level as in K562/ADM, but expression of the 4.5-kilobase mdr1 mRNA was greatly decreased, indicating that amplified genes may be inactivated at the level of transcription without a corresponding loss of amplified DNA.