Unexpected roles of ATP11B in platinum resistance

Platinum compounds display clinical activity against a wide variety of solid tumors. However, resistance to these agents is a major limitation in cancer therapy. Reduced platinum uptake and increased platinum export are examples of resistance mechanisms that limit the extent of DNA damage. Here, we report the discovery and characterization of the role of ATP11B, a P-type ATPase membrane protein, in cisplatin resistance. ATP11B gene silencing restored the sensitivity of ovarian cancer cell lines to cisplatin in vitro. Combined therapy of cisplatin and ATP11B-siRNA significantly decreased cancer growth in mice bearing ovarian tumors derived from cisplatin-sensitive and -resistant cells. In vitro mechanistic studies on cellular platinum content and cisplatin efflux-kinetics indicated that ATP11B enhances the export of cisplatin from cells. The co-localization of ATP11B with fluorescent cisplatin and with vesicular trafficking proteins such as syntaxin-6 (STX6) and vesicular associated membrane protein 4 (VAMP4) strongly suggests that ATP11B contributes to secretory vesicular transport of cisplatin from Golgi to plasma membrane. In conclusion, silencing ATP11B expression might be a therapeutic strategy to overcome cisplatin resistance. We performed the transfection of control-siRNA and ATP11B-siRNA to both cisplatin-sensitive A2780-PAR and cisplatin-resistant A2780-CP20 cells respectively.