Dequalinium induces apoptosis in peripheral blood mononuclear cells isolated from human chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

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BlankDequalinium induces apoptosis in peripheral blood mononuclear cells

isolated from human chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

L Pajuelo, E Calvino, JC Diez, MD Boyano-Adanez, J Gil, and P Sancho

Invest New Drugs, June 5, 2010; .

Servicio de Inmunolog?a, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Mara??n,

Madrid, Spain.

B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL) is an abnormal neoplasic

proliferation of B cells, which accumulate mainly in the bone marrow and blood

preventing both B cells development in the lymph nodes and the ability to fight

against infection. The antitumor agents used in chemotherapy are aimed at

inducing malignant cell death, thus limiting the growth and spreading of these

cells. However, the lack of specificity for tumor cells exhibited by these

agents causes undesirable side effects that have led to the investigation of new

therapeutic strategies designed to specifically target malignant cells and thus

trigger selective cell destruction. Dequalinium (DQA) is an antitumoral agent

that selectively accumulates in the mitochondria and has been shown to display

anticancer activity in cells from different malignancies. In the present study,

the DQA-induced cytotoxicity in B-CLL cells was analyzed by measuring cell

viability and cell death, either by necrosis or apoptosis. Our results support

the importance of DQA as a selective and potential antileukemic drug with a

higher cytotoxic effect on peripheral blood mononuclear cells from B-CLL

patients than in those from healthy donors and encourage the performance of

further studies in combination with other agents.

PMID: 20524037