A Novel Resveratrol-Arsenic Trioxide Combination Treatment Synergistically Induces Apoptosis of Adriamycin-Selected Drug-Resistant Leukemia K562 Cells.

Leukemia cells can develop resistance to apoptosis induced by chemotherapeutic agents. Concomitant multidrug resistance of cells remains the greatest clinical obstacle in the effective treatment of blood and solid tumors. Natural products have been identified that possess the capacity to modulate chemotherapeutic resistance and induce apopotosis.

Characteristics of doxorubicin-selected multidrug-resistant human leukemia HL-60 cells with tolerance to arsenic trioxide and contribution of leukemia stem cells.

The present study selected and characterized a multidrug-resistant HL-60 human acute promyelocytic leukemia cell line, HL-60/RS, by exposure to stepwise incremental doses of doxorubicin. The drug-resistant HL-60/RS cells exhibited 85.68-fold resistance to doxorubicin and were cross-resistant to other chemotherapeutics, including cisplatin, daunorubicin, cytarabine, vincristine and etoposide.