Y. Maeda et al., 13-CIS RETINOIC ACID INHIBITS GROWTH OF ADULT T-CELL LEUKEMIA-CELLS AND CAUSES APOPTOSIS - POSSIBLE NEW INDICATION FOR RETINOID THERAPY, Internal medicine, 35(3), 1996, pp. 180-184
We evaluated the effects of 13-cis retinoic acid (13-cis RA) on the gr
owth of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) obtained from 12 pat
ients with adult T cell leukemia (ATL). In general, 13-cis RA potently
inhibited the growth of PBMC from ATL patients. However, the sensitiv
ity of the cells to 13-cis RA-induced growth inhibition varied among t
he patients. The ATL patients fell into three groups (hypersensitive,
sensitive and resistant to 13-cis RA) according to the percent reducti
on of H-3-thymidine incorporation before and after treatment with 13-c
is RA. Agarose gel electrophoresis of total genomic DNA from a patient
sensitive to 13-cis RE provided evidence of the DNA fragmentation ind
icative of apoptosis. The ability of 13-cis RA to induce apoptosis in
PBMC from ATL patients suggests that retinoids may be useful in the tr
eatment of ATL.