Abstract
In spite of the great progress in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) treatment, a large number of patients still suffer from chemotherapy drug toxicity. As a routine medication for ALL treatment, cytarabine (Ara-C) has many side effects on the patients. Astaxanthin (ASX), on the other hand, is a carotenoid with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties. The present study investigated the effects of ASX in combination with Ara-C on cell proliferation, apoptosis induction, and cell cycle arrest in NALM-6 cell line. NALM6 cells were treated with different concentrations of ASX, Ara-C, and their co-treatment. Cytotoxic effects were evaluated using MTT assay. After treating the cells with the IC50 dose of ASX, Ara-C and their co-treatment, we studied apoptosis induction, cell cycle arrest, and expression of apoptotic, anti-apoptotic, and inflammatory genes. MTT assay demonstrated that co-treatment of cytarabine and ASX had greater cytotoxicity effects compared with the IC50 dose of Ara-C alone. After 48h of treatment of NALM-6 cells with the combination dose, expression levels of apoptotic genes (P53, caspase-8, 3), the anti-apoptotic gene (Bcl-xL) and inflammatory genes (IL-6, TNF-α) changed significantly compared to the untreated group (p < 0.05). Co-treatment of ASX and Ara-C has synergism effects on apoptosis pathways, cell proliferation inhibition, and decreased inflammation.
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