Dexamethasone-resistant cystic fibrosis fibroblasts show cross-resistance to sex steroids

Diploid skin fibroblasts derived from individuals with the autosomal recessive disease, cystic fibrosis (CF), were shown previously to be significantly more resistant to the cytotoxicity of dexamethasone, a glucocorticoid hormone, than were normal human fibroblasts. Here cystic fibrosis fibroblasts are also shown to be more resistant than normal human fibroblasts to the cytotoxic effects of the sex hormones, 17 beta-estradiol, dihydrotestosterone and progesterone. Since cells are believed to contain different receptors for each of the steroid hormones, it is not probable than the resistance of CF cells to these hormones results from a receptor deficiency. This was shown by the fact that CF cells were found to exhibit the same receptor activity as normal cells for 3-H-dexamethasone. Furthermore, neither normal human nor CF fibroblasts could be demonstrated to contain detectable receptor activity for 3H-17 beta-estradiol. In addition, the studies of fibroblast killing by hormones led to the further interesting observation that normal human diploid fibroblasts, regardless of the sex of the tissue donor, are sensitive to killing by each of the sex hormones. These findings suggest that the cytotoxic effects of the steroid hormones may be observed independently of the specific hormone receptors. The studies reported here thus suggest that the resistance of CF cells to the different steroid hormones is probably the result of a defect in a pathway in cellular steroid hormone metabolism other than that involving receptors.