Intracellular localisation of suramin, an anticancer drug, in human colon adenocarcinoma cells: A study by quantitative autoradiography

Suramin is a polysulphonated naphthylurea currently investigated for the treatment of advanced malignancy. In the present study, we have analysed the uptake and the intracellular localisation of tritiated suramin in human colon adenocarcinoma cells (HT-29-D4), using quantitative autoradiographic techniques at the optical and electron microscopy levels. Our results show that the drug is able to enter both undifferentiated and differentiated HT-29-D4 cells. The process of suramin uptake is time-dependent, and significantly inhibited by the presence of the suramin-binding protein serum albumin in the culture medium of HT-29-D4 cells. Autoradiographic analysis revealed two distinct patterns of intracellular localisation of tritiated suramin labelling, according to the presence or absence of serum albumin. Indeed, in the absence of serum albumin, the labelling of free suramin was distributed over the nucleus, the Golgi apparatus and the mitochondria, while it was restricted to the lysosomal system when suramin was complexed with albumin. These data show that a serum factor, i.e. albumin, influences the biological activity of suramin by determining its intracellular localisation. The presence of suramin in a given compartment may account for specific effects of the drug including mitochondrial hypertrophy, altered gene expression and lysosomal perturbation.