A comparative study examining the cytotoxicity of inducible gene expression system ligands in different cell types

Inducible gene expression systems are being used in many in vitro and in vivo applications for target discovery, target validation and as components in exploratory therapeutic agents. Ideally, the ligands, which activate the systems, are benign so that the effects can be strictly attributed to the induced protein. As a first step to defining the potential effects of these inducers, we tested three of them, doxycycline, muristerone A and mifepristone (for tet-, ecdysone- and progesterone antagonist-inducible systems respectively), for toxicity across a panel of normal cells and cancer cell lines. In contrast to both muristerone A and mifepristone that showed no significant toxicity on any of the tested cells, we observed that doxycycline induced cell death in selected cancer and primary cell lines. The different susceptibility of cell lines to the ligands commonly used in these inducible systems suggests that it is important to consider the effects of the inducers prior to their use in experimental in vitro cell culture systems.