Study of apoptosis-related responses of leukemic blast cells to in vitro anthracycline treatment

• Published in: Leukemia Vol. 14; no. 7; pp. 1266 - 1275
• Main Authors: BELAUD-ROTUREAU, M.-A, DURRIEU, F, LABROILLE, G, LACOMBE, F, FITOUSSI, O, AGAPE, P, MARIT, G, REIFFERS, J, BELLOC, F
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing 01.07.2000; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: Acute Disease; Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Anthracycline; Antibiotics, Antineoplastic - administration & dosage; Antibiotics, Antineoplastic - pharmacology; Antineoplastic agents; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols - therapeutic use; Apoptosis; Apoptosis - drug effects; Biological and medical sciences; Blast cells; Bone Marrow - pathology; Caspase 3; Caspases - physiology; CD45 antigen; Cell death; Daunorubicin; Daunorubicin - administration & dosage; Daunorubicin - pharmacology; Drug Resistance, Multiple; Drug Resistance, Neoplasm; Enzyme Activation - drug effects; fas Receptor - analysis; fas Receptor - biosynthesis; fas Receptor - genetics; Female; Flow Cytometry; Gating; Gene Expression Regulation, Leukemic - drug effects; General aspects; Glycoproteins; Humans; Idarubicin - administration & dosage; Idarubicin - pharmacology; Leukemia; Leukemia, Myeloid - drug therapy; Leukemia, Myeloid - mortality; Leukemia, Myeloid - pathology; Leukocytes (mononuclear); Lymphocytes; Male; Medical prognosis; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Multidrug resistance; Multivariate analysis; Neoplasm Proteins - analysis; Neoplasm Proteins - biosynthesis; Neoplasm Proteins - genetics; Neoplasm Proteins - physiology; Neoplastic Stem Cells - cytology; Neoplastic Stem Cells - drug effects; Peptide Hydrolases - biosynthesis; Peptide Hydrolases - genetics; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Prognosis; Remission; Remission Induction; Signal Transduction - drug effects; Survival Analysis; Toxicity; Treatment Outcome; Tumor cells; Human; Prognosis; Enzyme; Cysteine endopeptidases; Acute; Biological marker; Malignant hemopathy; In vitro; Biological activity; Peptidases; Antibiotic; Daunorubicin; Interleukin 1-β converting enzyme; Cell death; Multiple resistance; Hydrolases; Anthracyclins; Idarubicin; Negative therapeutic reaction; Apoptosis; Acute myelocytic leukemia
• ISSN: 0887-6924; 1476-5551
• DOI: 10.1038/sj.leu.2401803

Anthracyclines trigger an apoptotic cell death but their molecular targets are not totally explored. We investigated the apoptotic response of blast cells and lymphocytes from medullary samples of 31 de novo acute leukemia. Mononuclear cells were treated in vitro by therapeutic concentrations of either daunorubicin (DNR) or idarubicin (IDA) for 1 h, washed and cultured for 18 h. A multivariate analysis using flow cytometry and a CD45 gating on lymphocytes and blast cells was performed. DNR and IDA induced a Fas enhancement on both leukemic and normal cells. In blast cells the DEVDases were activated and the caspase 3 was cleaved in relation to phosphatidyl serine exposure, showing a caspase-dependent pathway in anthracycline-induced apoptosis. Apoptotic percentages were always higher for blast cells than for lymphocytes, confirming that anthracycline toxicity mainly affected tumor cells. Moreover, drug-induced apoptosis was not related to spontaneous apoptosis, suggesting that variations in response intensities were due to individual variations of sensitivity rather than to programmed life span time. The apoptotic response of P-glycoprotein-expressing blast cells was not significant, giving biological argument for the poor prognosis of multidrug resistance leukemia. Finally, Fas induction and anthracycline-induced apoptosis on blast cells were significantly higher when a complete remission was achieved, thus shedding light on potential new prognostic factors in acute leukemia.