Laser and daunomycin chemophototherapy of human carcinoma cells.

Adriamycin and daunomycin anticancer drugs are detectable in leukemias and solid tumors by cell fluorescence. We observed initial cytoplasmic fluorescence followed by slow nuclear localization of adriamycin and daunomycin after incubation with cultured human squamous cell (P3, FADU) and adenocarcinoma (HT29, SW620) lines by digital video imaging microscopy. Tumor cells incubated with 10 mug/ml of these drugs exhibited increased uptake for more than 3 h with intracellular levels in the range 0.5-2.5 mug/10 6 cells measured by dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) extraction and fluorescence spectrophotometry. Daunomycin had 10- to 100-fold higher toxicity for these carcinoma cells than for normal human epithelial keratinocytes measured by in vitro MTT tetrazolium assays. The viability of daunomycin-sensitized carcinoma cells was decreased 2- to 10-fold further by argon laser illumination at 488 nm (5W, T max = 8 degrees C) for 2-3 minutes. The results suggest that adriamycin derivatives may be useful targeting agents for adjuvant treatment and chemophototherapy of human solid tumors by MR-guided laser fiberoptic endoscopy.