Cytotoxicity of Adriamycin and Daunorubicin for Normal and Leukemia Progenitor Cells of Man2

Abstract

A colony assay available for a subpopulation of acute myeloblastic leukemia blasts with proliferative potential was used to measure adriamycin (adria) and daunorubicin (dauno) dose-response curves following brief exposure to either drug and washing. The dose-response curves were simple negative exponentials that might be characterized by 010 (dose required to reduce survival to 10%) values. The 010 values ranged from 0.47 to 20.8 μg/ml for adria (8 patients) and from 0.06 to 0.34 μg/ml for dauno (3 patients). Controls consisted of committed granulopoietic and T-Iymphocyte progenitors. Four measurements of granulopoietic progenitors yielded 010 values from 2.5 to 11.5 μg/ml for adria and from 0.44 to 1.2 μg/ml for dauno. Tlymphocyte precursors from 4 normal individuals were resistant. However, following incubation of normal leukocytes with phytohemagglutinin, DNA synthesis commenced in T-lymphocyte precursors for 3 additional normal controls, which was associated with an increased adria sensitivity with 010 values ranging from 4.4 to 6.2 μg/ml