Mitoxantrone & adriamycin cytotoxicity enhanced by reserpine in human chronic myeloid leukaemia cells

The effect of reserpine was studied alone and in combination with anticancer drugs on human chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) cells. To study the effect of reserpine on anthracycline antibiotic adriamycin and anthracenedione mitoxantrone the extent of 3H-thymidine incorporation into the DNA was taken as the measure of cytotoxicity. The results indicate that reserpine enhances the cytotoxicity of mitoxantrone and adriamycin in mildly toxic concentrations (1 and 10 micrograms respectively), in CML cells. The mechanism of enhancement in drug sensitivity by reserpine in CML cells is due to enhanced intracellular accumulation of drug.