Effect of Tetrandrine and Toremifene on the Reversion of Multidrug Resistance of K562/A02 Cell Line

Abstract Objective: To study the reversal effect of Tetrandrine(Tet) and the estrogen-receptor inhibitor,toremifene(Tor),on multidrug resistance cell line K562/A02 and to investigate the reversal mechanism of this combination. Methods: ADM accumulation and the apoptosis percentage of K562 and K562/A02 cells were analyzed by fluorospectrophotometry, respectively. The protein levels of P-glycoprotein (P-gp) were detected by fluorospectrophotometry. The mRNA levels of mdr1 and Survivin were determined by RT-PCR. Results: The IC50 of ADM for K562/A02 and K562 cells were 57.43±4.55mg/L and 1.16±0.05mg/L respectively. Pretreating K562/A02 cells with toremifene(2.5μmol/L) or Tet(1μmol/L) for 72 hours partially restored the sensitivity of K562/A02 cells to ADM (IC50 were 20.74±1.62mg/L and 14.12±1.20mg/L respectively) but had no effect on K562 cells; IC50 of combined tetrandrine and toremifene was 9.14±1.03mg/L;K562/A02 showed apoptotic characteristics after treated with tetrandrine, toremifene (alone or combination);tetrandrine and toremifene (alone or combination) elevated the intracellular ADM accumulation in K562/A02; P-gp, mdr1 and Survivin mRNA were down regulated. Conclusion: Tetrandrine, toremifene (alone or combination) showed significant MDR reversal activity in vitro The reversal activity may be related to the inhibition of P-gp overexpression and down regulation the expression of mdr1 and Survivin mRNA to increase the intracellular accumulation of anticancer drugs, which lead to more K562/A02 cells apoptosis; Multidrug resistance (MDR) can be partially reversed by Tet or Tor of which the combination shows a great synergistic reversal effect.