OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect and mechanism of artesunate (ARTS) combined with cytarabine(Ara-C) and/or daunorubicin (DNR) on the proliferation and apoptosis of MV4-11 human mixed-lineage leukemia rearranged（MLL-r） acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cell line. METHODS: CCK-8 assay was used to detect the proliferation effect of individual or in combination of ARTS, DNR, Ara-C on MV4-11 cells. The IC₅₀ of ARTS, DNR and Ara-C was calculated separately. The cell apoptosis and expression of receptors DR4 and DR5 were detected by flow cytometry. Western blot was used to detect the expression of Caspase-3 and Caspase-9 in each groups. RESULTS: The inhibition effect of ARTS, Ara-C and DNR on the proliferation of MV4-11 were all dose-dependently (r=0.99, 0.90 and 0.97, respectively). The IC₅₀ of ARTS, Ara-C and DNR on MV4-11 for 48 hours were 0.31 μg/ml, 1.43 μmol/L and 22.47 nmol/L, respectively. At the dose of ARTS 0.3 μg/ml， Ara-C 1.0 μmol/L and DNR 15 nmol/L, the proliferation rate for 48 hours of the tri-combination treatment was significantly lower than that of the bi-combination treatment, while both were significantly lower than that of the individual treatment (all P＜0.05). In terms of bi-combination treatment, the cells proliferation rate for 48 hours of the ARTS+Ara-C group was significantly lower than that of the ARTS+DNR group, while both were significantly lower than that of the Ara-C+DNR group (all P＜0.05). The cooperativity index (CI) of bi- and tri-combination treatment were all less than 1. After 48 hours of drug action, the cell apoptosis rate of the ARTS+DNR+Ara-C group was significantly higher than that of the Ara-C+DNR group, while both were significantly higher than that of the ARTS+DNR group (all P＜0.05). Meanwhile, the was no statistical difference between the cells apoptotic rate of the ARTS+DNR+Ara-C group and the ARTS+Ara-C group (P>0.05). The expression of DR4 and DR5 also showed no difference between control group and drug group. Compared with the DNR+Ara-C group, the expressions of Caspase-3 were significantly down-regulated in both the ARTS+DNR+Ara-C group and the ARTS+Ara-C group (all P＜0.05). The down-regulation of Caspase-3 expression was the most significantly in the combination group of three drugs, while the Caspase-9 expressions in different groups showed no apparent change. CONCLUSION The in vitro study showed that tri-combination of ARTS+Ara-C+DNR and bi-combination of ARTS+Ara-C could inhibit the proliferation and promote apoptosis of MV4-11 cell line. The inhibition effect of these two combinations were significantly superior to that of the traditional Ara-C+DNR treatment. The mechanism underlying this finding may be identified by the down regulation of Caspase-3, while no altered expression was observed of Caspase-9, DR4 and DR5.
Humans ; Cytarabine/pharmacology* ; Daunorubicin/pharmacology* ; Caspase 3 ; Caspase 9 ; Artesunate/pharmacology* ; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute ; Apoptosis ; Cell Line

OBJECTIVETo investigate the protect effects of sodium ferulate (SF) on the daunormbicin(DNR-induced cardiotoxicity in juvenile rats.

METHODSForty male juvenile SD rats were randomly divided into control group (Control), daunorubicin group (DNR), sodium ferudate treatment group (DNR + SF), sodium ferudate group (SF) (n = 10) . Juvenile rats were intraperitoneally treated with DNR (2.5 mg/kg every week for a cumulative dose of 10 mg/kg) preparation immature myocardial injury model in presence with SF (60 mg/kg) oral treat- ment for 25 days. The left ventricular pressure and its response to isoproterenol were measured using left ventricular catheter. Rat myocardium myocardial pathology specimens and ultrastructure changes were also observed. The expression of cardiac Troponin I (cTNI) was detected by Western blot and RT-PCR. Results: SF treatment could inhibit the decreasing of heart rates induced by DNR damage (P < 0.05); it could increase the left ventrivular end diastolic pressure(LVEDP), heart rate, the maximal left ventrivular systolic speed(LVP + dp/dtmax) and the maximal left ventrivular diastolic speed (LVP-dp/dtmax) responding to isoproterenol stimulation(P < 0.01); SF also could improve the myocardial ultrastructure injuries and inhibit the decreasing of cTNI expression caused by DNR damages (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSF treatment could alleviate the decreasing of cardiac reservation induced by DNR damages in juvenile rats, which might be related to its reversing the effects on the cardiac systolic and diastolic function injuries and its inhibiting effects on the decreasing of cTNI expression caused by DNR. The mechanism of SF preventing daunorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity in juvenile rats is relevant to inhabited cardiac Troponin I expression.

Animals ; Blood Pressure ; Cardiotoxicity ; drug therapy ; Coumaric Acids ; pharmacology ; Daunorubicin ; toxicity ; Heart ; physiopathology ; Heart Rate ; Isoproterenol ; Male ; Myocardium ; pathology ; Protective Agents ; pharmacology ; Rats ; Rats, Sprague-Dawley ; Troponin I ; metabolism

The aim of this study was to observe the inhibitory effect of daunorubicin on KG1a cells and the expression of Eps8 which is a novel tumor-associated antigen with its full name epidermal growth factor receptor pathway substrate 8 (Eps8), and to explore the effect of daunorubicin on Eps8 expression in KG1a cells at mRNA and protein levels. The KG1a cells were treated with different concentration of daunorubicin for 24, 48, 72 h, then trypan blue staining was used to detect the inhibitory rate of KGla cells, RQ-PCR and Western blot were used to detect Eps8 mRNA and Eps8 protein expression. The results showed that daunorubicin inhibited the proliferation of KG1a cells in a dose and time dependent manner (r = 0.983, P < 0.01). Daunorubicin could reduce the mRNA and protein levels of Eps8 expression in dose and time dependent manners in KG1a cells (r = 0.979, P < 0.05). It is concluded that with the increasing of concentration and time of daunorubicin acting on KG1a cells, the cell proliferative inhibitory effect increased and the expression of Eps8 decreased, suggesting that the inhibitory effect of daunorubicin on KG1a cell proliferation is realized through downregulation of Eps8 expression.
Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing ; metabolism ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; Daunorubicin ; pharmacology ; Humans

Azacitidine ; administration & dosage ; analogs & derivatives ; pharmacology ; Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; Daunorubicin ; administration & dosage ; pharmacology ; HL-60 Cells ; Humans ; PTEN Phosphohydrolase ; metabolism

The aim of this study was to investigate the potential benefit of combination therapy with 5-bromotetrandrine (5-BrTet) and daunorubicin (DNR) on chronic leukemia. The apoptosis of K562/A02 cells treated by DNA, BrTet and BrTet combined with DNR for 48 hours was detected by flow cytometry; the expressions levels of survivin mRNA and protein K562/A02 cells treated by DNR, BrTet and BrTet combined with DNR and in untreated K562 cells for 48 hours were measured by RT-PCR and Western blot respectively. The results showed that the combination of BrTet with DNR increased apoptotic rate of K562/A02, down-regulated the expression levels of survivin mRNA and protein in K562/A02 cells as compared with blank control and cells treated by BrTet or DNR alone, the survivin expression in K562/A02 cells was higher than that in K562 cells. It is concluded that the combination of BrTet with DNR can effectively reverse the multidrug resistance of K562/A02 cells, promote the apoptosis of K562/A02 cells, the mechanism of which may be related with down-regulation of survivin expression. Survivin may be a target for the treatment of MDR in hematopoietic malignancies.
Apoptosis ; drug effects ; genetics ; Benzylisoquinolines ; pharmacology ; Daunorubicin ; pharmacology ; Drug Resistance, Multiple ; genetics ; Drug Resistance, Neoplasm ; genetics ; Gene Expression Regulation, Leukemic ; Humans ; Inhibitor of Apoptosis Proteins ; genetics ; K562 Cells

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of magnetic nanoparticle of Fe3O4 combined with daunorubicin on lymphoma cell line Raji. The Raji cells were cultured with Fe3O4-magnetic nanoparticle and daunorubicin polymerized by means of mechanical absorption, the cell viability was detected by MTT and trypan-blue exclusion; the apoptosis was detected by flow cytometry, the expressions of P53 and P65 are measured by Western blot. The results showed that raji cell proliferation rate was dramatically inhibited by daunorubicin and MNP-Fe3O4-DNR in concentration-and time-dependent manners, there was significant difference in OD (p < 0.05) between these 2 groups. The apoptotic rate was correlated with time and there was significantly different between these 2 groups (p = 0.05).Western blot showed that the grey value in daunorubicin and MNP-Fe3O4-DNR were 2.52 ± 0.32, 2.08 ± 0.39 in P65 and 0.685 ± 0.144, 0.870 ± 0.091 in P53 respectively (p < 0.05). It is concluded that the combination treatment of MNP-Fe3O4 and daunorubicin efficiently inhibits growth and induces apoptosis in Raji cell line, while the activation of P53 and down-regulation of NF-κB may play important roles.
Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Cell Proliferation ; drug effects ; Daunorubicin ; pharmacology ; Drug Resistance, Multiple ; Drug Resistance, Neoplasm ; Ferric Compounds ; pharmacology ; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic ; Humans ; Magnetics ; Nanoparticles ; Transcription Factor RelA ; metabolism ; Tumor Suppressor Protein p53 ; metabolism

This study was aimed to investigate the relevance of nilotinib in combination with tetrandrine (Tet) on reversing multidrug resistance and inducing apoptosis of K562/A02 cell line and its mechanism. Methyl-thiazol tetrazolium (MTT) assay was employed to examine the pharmacological effect of nilotinib or Tet alone on K562/A02 cell line, the IC(50) of daunorubicin (DNR) on K562/A02 cell line treated with nilotinib and Tet was calculated; the flow cytometry (FCM) was employed to detect the apoptosis rate of K562/A02. The expression of bax/survivin mRNA was determined by RT-PCR, and the expression of bax/survivin protein was assayed by Western blot. The results showed that after being treated by 5 nmol/L nilotinib or 1.0 µml/L Tet for 48 hours, IC(50) of DNR to K562/A02 was 5.71 ± 0.72 mg/L or 6.52 ± 0.43 mg/L, respectively, while in their combined treatment, IC(50) decreased to 3.12 ± 0.13 mg/L. Nilotinib or Tet alone could increase DNR-inducing apoptosis rate of K562/A02 cell, while the apoptosis rate of K562/A02 increased remarkably in combination treatment of nilotinib with Tet. After being treated with 5 nmol/L nilotinib or 1.0 µml/L Tet alone for 48 hours, the expressions of bax mRNA and BAX protein was up-regulated, while both effects were more obvious in combination treatment of nilotinib with Tet. Treatment with 5 nmol/L nilotinib or 1.0 µmol/L Tet alone for 48 hours down-regulated the expression of survivin mRNA and its protein, while treatment of nilotinib in combination with Tet had more significant effect on down-regulation of their expression. It is concluded that the K562/A02 cells are resistant to DNR, nilotinib or Tet alone both can partially reverse resistance of K562/A02 cells to DNR, increase the apoptosis rate of K562/A02 cells. Combination of nilotinib with Tet shows obvious synergistic action, mechanism of which may associate with up-regulation of bax mRNA and BAX protein expressions and down-regulation of survivin mRNA and its protein expressions.
Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Benzylisoquinolines ; administration & dosage ; pharmacology ; Daunorubicin ; pharmacology ; Drug Resistance, Multiple ; Drug Resistance, Neoplasm ; Gene Expression Regulation, Leukemic ; Humans ; Inhibitor of Apoptosis Proteins ; genetics ; K562 Cells ; Pyrimidines ; administration & dosage ; pharmacology ; bcl-2-Associated X Protein ; genetics

This study was aimed to investigate the reversal effect of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) Imatinib and Nilotinib on multidrug-resistant cell line K562/A02. The expression levels of mdr-1 mRNA and bcr-abl mRNA were assayed by RT-PCR. The protein levels of P-glycoprotein (P-gp) and P210 were detected by Western blot. The daunorubicin (DNR) accumulation in K562/A02 cells were analyzed by flow cytometry (FCM). The results showed that the 0.0625 micromol/L Imatinib or 5 nmol/L Nilotinib alone had no cytotoxic effect on the inhibition of K562/A02 cells. When K562/A02 cells were treated with Imatinib or Nilotinib alone for 48 hours, the expressions of mdr-1 mRNA, der/abl mRNA, P-gp and P210 protein were all down-regulated, furthermore the effect of Nilotinib was stronger than that of Imatinib. The detection of fluorescence intensity revealed that the DNR concentration in K562/A02 cells treated with Imatinib or Nilotinib alone for 48 hours were 7.85% and 12.02% of K562 cells respectively. It is concluded that the tyrosine kinase inhibitors show great effect reversing drug resistance of cells, moreover, the effect of Nilotinib is stronger than that of Imatinib.
ATP Binding Cassette Transporter, Sub-Family B ; ATP-Binding Cassette, Sub-Family B, Member 1 ; metabolism ; Benzamides ; Daunorubicin ; pharmacology ; Doxorubicin ; pharmacology ; Drug Resistance, Multiple ; drug effects ; Drug Resistance, Neoplasm ; drug effects ; Humans ; Imatinib Mesylate ; K562 Cells ; Piperazines ; pharmacology ; Protein Kinase Inhibitors ; pharmacology ; Pyrimidines ; pharmacology

This study was purposed to investigate the reversal effect of glucosylceramide synthase (GCS) inhibitor D, L-threo-1-phenyl-2-decanoylamino-3-morpholino-1-propanol (PDMP) hydrochloride, on multidrug resistance in K562/A02 cells and its mechanism. The IC(50) (the half maximal inhibitory concentration) of PDMP was measured by MTT method. Cell apoptosis and intracellular daunorubicin (DNR) concentration were detected by flow cytometry. The expression of GCS and mdr1 genes were assayed by semi-quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Western blot. The results showed that the IC(50) of DNR in K562 and K562/A02 cells were 0.23 +/- 0.02 and 7.15 +/- 0.24 microg/ml respectively. When the concentration of PDMP was equal to or less than 20 micromol/L ( < / = 20 micromol/L), the obviously inhibitory effect on proliferation of K562 and K562/A02 cells was not observed, but both 20 micromol/L and 10 micromol/L PDMP could enhance the sensitivity of K562/A02 cells to DNR (p < 0.01) and the reversal multiples were 2.59 and 1.69 respectively. After treating with 20 micromol/L and 10 micromol/L PDMP for 48 hours, the concentration of DNR in K562/A02 cells increased (p < 0.05) and the apoptotic rate also was elevated (p < 0.01). The expressions of GCS and mdr1 genes were down-regulated at mRNA and protein levels after treating K562/A02 cells with 20 micromol/L PDMP for 48 hours. It is concluded that PDMP can enhance the sensitivity of K562/A02 cells to DNR by increasing cell apoptosis rate and accumulation concentration of DNR in cells, which may be related to down-regulated expressions of GCS and mdr1 genes.
Daunorubicin ; pharmacology ; Drug Resistance, Multiple ; drug effects ; Drug Resistance, Neoplasm ; drug effects ; Enzyme Inhibitors ; pharmacology ; Humans ; Inhibitory Concentration 50 ; K562 Cells ; Morpholines ; pharmacology

OBJECTIVETo investigate the reversible effect of nilotinib, BrTet (5-bromotetrandrine) and their combination on multidrug resistance cell line K562/A02 and its mechanism.

METHODSCell proliferation inhibition was assessed by MTT method and cell apoptosis by flow cytometry (FCM). The expression of mdr1 mRNA was determined by RT-PCR, and the expression of P-gp was assessed by Western blot.

RESULTSAfter 48 h 5 nmol/L nilotinib or 0.5 µmol/L BrTet treatment, IC(50) of daunorubicin (DNR) to K562/A02 was 4.52 mg/L or 5.41 mg/L respectively; While on combinative treatment, its IC(50) decreased to 2.98 mg/L. Nilotinib or BrTet alone was not able to increase the DNR induced apoptosis rate of K562/A02 cell (P > 0.05), while on combination treatment the apoptosis rate increased remarkably. After 48 h 5 nmol/L nilotinib or 0.5 µmol/L BrTet treatment alone, gray-scale value of mdr1 mRNA was 0.48 ± 0.04 or 0.64 ± 0.01, respectively; while on combinative treatment the value decreased to 0.35 ± 0.04. The P-gp expression level in K562/A02 cells was 0.61 ± 0.05, or 0.52 ± 0.02 when treated with 5 nmol/L nilotinib or 0.5 µmol/L BrTet alone for 48 h, but on combination treatment, the level decreased to 0.44 ± 0.03.

CONCLUSIONNilotinib or BrTet alone can partially reverse drug resistance of K562/A02 cells. The mechanism may be associated with the decrease of mdr1 mRNA and P-gp expression and increase of the apoptosis rate. And there is a synergistic action with these two agants in combination.

ATP-Binding Cassette, Sub-Family B, Member 1 ; metabolism ; Daunorubicin ; pharmacology ; Drug Resistance, Multiple ; drug effects ; Drug Resistance, Neoplasm ; drug effects ; Humans ; K562 Cells