Intracellular concentration and transporters in imatinib resistance of gastrointestinal stromal tumor

We aimed to investigate the role of intracellular imatinib concentration in drug resistance and the expression of candidate drug transporters in gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) cell lines.The imatinib concentrations were measured by the liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The expression of candida te drug transporters was detected by qRT-PCR.The tissue imatinib concentrations in imatinib resistant patients were significantly lower than that of sensitive patients (p < .05). Compared with parental cell lines, the intracellular imatinib concentration was notably lower in imatinib resistant GIST cell lines. For candidate transporters, MRP1 and BCRP were overexpressed in resistant GIST cell lines.The intracellular imatinib concentration may play a crucial role in imatinib resistance and the intracellular differences of imatinib concentration may be induced by the upregulation of efflux transporters. Our study highlights the importance of intracellular imatinib concentration and the potential of using imatinib transporters as therapeutic targets for patients with GIST.