Antitumor effects of nitroglycerin drug on K562 cells: In vitro

Background and aim of study: Leukemia is cancer of blood-forming tissues which derives from red and white blood progenitors cells. According to the needs of body, Red and white blood cells usually grow, and divide precisely, and orderly. But in the leukemia, the regulation is disrupted, and it makes the growth of blood cells control aside. Nitroglycerin by transferring to nitric oxide (NO), and increasing of NO cellular oxidative stress cause induces apoptosis of cancer cells. This study was performed to survey the antitumor effects of nitroglycerin drug on K562 cells in vitro. First, The leukemia cells K562 category are cultured in RPMI 1640 with 10 percent of heat-inactivated fetal calf serum, then different concentrations of drug prepared, and their antitumor properties at 24, 48 and 72 hours after treatment was measured by MTT method. Then the drugs IC50 measured. In the next stage, in order to survey the apoptotic, electrophoresis and staining with Hoechst colors used. The results showed that the antitumor impacts of nitroglycerin dependently increase in a dose, and time. The IC50 of nitroglycerin was observed at 79 (µmol /ml).Also, the results of electrophoresis and staining showed that these drugs have the effect of apoptosis. Based on the results, can be inferred that inhibitory effect of nitroglycerin on K562 cells depends on time, and dose which the maximum inhibitory effect observed after 72 hours of treatments of the highest concentration. So, this drug may be effective in the prevention, and treatment of chronic leukemia.