Induction of apoptosis by idarubicin: how important is the plasma peak?

Objectives: it is still not clear whether a high plasma peak or a prolonged plasma presence of the drug is optimal for chemotherapy with anthracycline s. A high plasma peak seems to correlate with the liberation of oxygen radi cals and cumulative delayed cardiotoxicity, and therefore, should be avoide d. On the other hand, its role in attaining the desired therapeutic effect, i.e. induction of apoptosis in tumor cells, has not been clearly elucidate d. Methods: Idarubicin is the only anthracycline that can be applied orally . We measured the DNA-binding of idarubicin and idarubicinol and the induce d apoptosis in the human promyelocytic HL-60 leukemia cell line. Various ph armacokinetic profiles, with and without clinically relevant peak concentra tions, were simulated in vitro. Results: The concentration necessary for ma ximal DNA-binding and subsequent induction of apoptosis was 1.5 mu g/ml for 20 minutes which is well above the plasma concentration achievable in ther apy. A plateau of apoptosis was observed after 90 minutes of incubation; a prolongation above 90 minutes did not increase the rate of apoptosis. We si mulated a bolus application and a continuous infusion using two different p harmacokinetic profiles of idarubicin with comparable AUCs (area under the time curve). After 48 hours of total incubation, the viability of HL-60 cel ls was 56.88% with profile 1 (50 ng/ml idarubicin for 2 hours) and 83.00% w ith profile 2 (4.25 ng/ml for 24 hours). Conclusions: Although these in vit ro experiments are not directly applicable to the clinical situation, they do indicate that a prolongation of the application time up to at least 90 m inutes, either by continuous infusion or by oral application, may be accept able as a method of increasing apoptosis. On the other hand, the plasma pea k seems to be an important factor for the induction of apoptosis. Further s tudies are in progress to define the minimal plasma peak necessary to induc e a maximum of apoptosis.