Mechanism of action and spectrum of cell types susceptible to doxorubicin photochemotherapy.

We have shown that, whereas argon ion laser irradiation alone is not cytocidal for L929 cells, it greatly increases the cytotoxicity of intracellular doxorubicin. The present study showed that light enhancement of doxorubicin cytotoxicity was not restricted to stock L929 cells, but could also be demonstrated using L929 cells selected for doxorubicin resistance and several standard cell lines that are relatively resistant to doxorubicin prior to selection. Light-enhanced cytotoxicity resulted in extensive nuclear DNA loss and was strongly inhibited by anoxia. These findings suggest that the mechanism by which light exposure enhances doxorubicin cytotoxicity involves DNA damage by intranuclear generation of reactive oxygen species.