Enhanced proliferation inhibition of HL60 cells treated by synergistic all-trans retinoic acid/blue light/nanodiamonds

Abstract

To improve drug efficacy and minimize side effects for treating human promyelocytic leukemia cells, we explored a strategy using the traditional chemotherapy drug all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) combined with nanodiamonds (NDs) and blue light (BL) irradiation on the typical HL60 cell line. The synergistic ATRA–BL–ND could significantly induce cell inhibition ∼4 times that treated by ATRA alone. The introduction of BL plays an important role in the enhancement of cells apoptosis, improves the level of reactive oxygen species (ROS), reduces the expression of B-cell leukemia/lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) mRNA, and increases the activation of caspase-3 of HL60 cells. The biocompatible NDs are favorable for increasing ATRA concentration and improving drug delivery. The synergistically enhanced antitumor effect was further verified by in vivo examinations. The results in this paper could be helpful to establish a high efficiency and low toxicity strategy for clinical treatment of various tumors.