A genetic system comprised of mammalian cell mutants which demonstrate concomitant resistance to a number of unrelated drugs has been described previously. The resistance is due to reduced cell membrane permeability and is correlated with the presence of large amounts of a plasma membrane glycoprotein termed P-glycoprotein. This system could represent a model for multiple drug resistance which develops in cancer patients treated with chemotherapeutic drugs. We demonstrate here that the multiple drug resistance phenotype can be transferred to mouse cells with DNA from a drug-resistant mutant and then amplified quantitatively by culture in media containing increasing concentrations of drug. The amount of Pglycoprotein was correlated directly with the degree of drug resistance in the transformants and amplified transformants. In addition, the drug resistance and expression of P-glycoprotein of the transformants were unstable and associated quantitatively with the number of double minute chromosomes. We suggest that the gene for multiple drug resistance and P-glycoprotein is contained in these extrachromosomal particles and is amplified by increases in double minute chromosome number. The potential use of this system for manipulation of mammalian genes in general is discussed.A genetic system of clinical relevance involving mammalian cell mutants resistant to a wide variety of cytocidal drugs has recently emerged (36). This system began with the isolation of a number of CHO cell mutants which were resistant to colchicine (38). These mutants were shown to be resistant to the drug as a result of a membrane permeability barrier, which reduced the cellular uptake of colchicine (38). They were also found to be cross-resistant to a number of structurally diverse and functionally unrelated drugs, some of which are used in chemotherapy of cancer, again, by virtue of reduced uptake of these compounds (10). Further analysis of the membranes of these cells, in conjunction with hybrid cell studies (37) and selection of revertants (35), clearly demonstrated the association of the multiple drug resistance phenotype and the reduced membrane permeability with the presence in the cell membrane of a glycoprotein of 160,000 to 180,000 daltons termed P-glycoprotein (27, 28). P-glycoprotein was undetectable in the membrane of the drug-sensitive parental CHO cells but present in drugresistant mutants in amounts directly correlated with the level of resistance. The overexpression of a 160,000-to 180,000-dalton protein has also been observed in several drug resistance systems where resistance has been selected for drugs other than colchicine (13,22,45), including a human leukemic cell line selected for vinblastine resistance (11). As it appears likely that the development of resistance to chemotherapy of human tumors after repeated treatment with these drugs involves, at least in part, the emergence of such mutants (10, 36, 52), it seems important to carry their genetic analysis further. As a first step in this direction, we * Correspondin...