Purpose Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a complex malignancy characterized by the clonal expansion of immature myeloid precursors. The standard treatment for newly diagnosed AML is chemotherapy consisting of cytosine arabinoside (Ara-C) and anthracyclines with disappointing clinical outcomes and severe adverse effects, such as symptomatic bradycardia, neurotoxicity. Thus, it is promising to treat AML through combination drug therapy to reduce the adverse effects of chemotherapeutics. In our recent published PNAS paper, we reported that NK-1R antagonists, both Aprepitant and SR140333, induce apoptosis of myeloid leukemia cells by inducing oxidative stress through mitochondrial calcium overload. We, therefore, tested the hypothesis of the combination Ara-C with NK-1R antagonist could enhance the efficacy of Ara-C. Methods MTT assay was employed to detect the cell proliferation. Flow cytometry was applied to detect the cell cycle and necrosis. PI uptake and LDH release assay were used to detect the disintegration of the plasma membrane. Xenograft model was constructed to explore the effect of combination Ara-C with Aprepitant in vivo. Results Our results showed that Aprepitant sensitizes HL60 cells to the cytotoxic effects of Ara-C more than 5-fold by enhancing G0/G1 cell cycle arrest and necrosis in vitro. Furthermore, Nec-1, a specific inhibitor of necroptosis, could recover the cell proliferative viability significantly. Attractively, once every 2-days regimen of Ara-C (5 mg/kg) and Aprepitant (10 mg/kg) via in situ injection dramatically reduced the tumor volume from 2175.0 ± 341.9 mm3 in the vehicle group to 828.4 ± 232.4 mm3 in the combination group without obvious toxicity in human myeloid leukemia xenograft mice. Conclusion Taken together, reduced dose of Ara-C combination with moderate Aprepitant provides more effective therapeutical methods for AML treatment in vitro and in vivo with the elimination of the toxicity of Ara-C, which may pay new avenue for the usage of the routine chemotherapy drug Ara-C with low dose to enhance efficacy and reduce toxicity in clinical practice.
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