• Synergistic effect of paclitaxel and D alpha-tocopherol succinate (Vitamin E) on HL-60 cancer cells
  • Maryam Rahimi,1,* Mohammad Rahimi,2
    1. Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Malayer University, Iran
    2. 2Medical Student of Arak University of Medical Sciences


  • Introduction: Acute promyelocytic leukemia is one of the types of acute leukemia with a displacement of chromosomes 15 and 17 that do not have the power to become mature cells and proliferate continuously. In recent years, a new therapeutic approach has been used to treat these immature cancer cells by differentiating agents, including vitamin A, vitamin D and vitamin E derivatives. Because high concentrations of differentiating agents are not possible due to side effects, it is attempting to increase their differentiation power by using compounds with these substances. Previous surveys have demonstrated that some kernels that hold anti-proliferative effects are capable of enhancing their differentiation ability at low concentrations. The purpose of this work was to look into the effect of paclitaxel and alpha-tocopherol succinate (vitamin E) on differentiation of HL-60 cancer cells.
  • Methods: HL-60 cells were cultured in 1640 RPMI medium containing 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS) and kept in CO2 incubation at 37 ° C. In parliamentary law to determine the cytotoxic effects of vitamin E and paclitaxel on HL-60 cells separately, these cells were processed with different concentrations of vitamin E and paclitaxel for 24, 48 and 72 hours. Then Cell viability was determined by MTT assay. In addition, differentiation of this cellular phone line was examined by Wright-Giemsa staining and NBT assay. SPSS software and one-way ANOVA were used for information analysis.
  • Results: The results showed that paclitaxel and vitamin E both induced cell death in a dose and time dependent manner and inhibited the proliferation of these cells at low concentrations. Vitamin E at a concentration of 6 μg / ml during 72 hours differentiated these cells into monocytes. But paclitaxel at 1.5 μg / ml only inhibited proliferation of HL-60 cells and caused no effect on cell differentiation while in combination with 6 μg / ml vitamin E during 72 h of differentiation and Its anti-proliferation is increasing.
  • Conclusion: In general, vitamin E can increased the differentiation potential and anti proliferation effect of paclitaxel.
  • Keywords: Paclitaxel, HL-60 Promyelocytic Cancer Cell Line, Therapeutic Differentiation