Effect of metoprolol on viability of human blood cancerous cells

Metoprolol as a β-Blocker is widely used in treatment of some cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension and myocardial infarction. Moreover, cytotoxic, anti-inflammation, anti-angiogenic and anti-tumor effects of metoprolol have been reported. The intention of this study was to examine metoprolol effect on viability of human blood cancerous cells in vitro.

Human leukemic T cells (MOLT-4 and JURKAT) and monocyte (U937) were cultured in Roswell Park Memorial Institute (RPMI) complete medium. Then, the cells (3 ×10 4 cell/well) were treated with different concentrations of metoprolol (1-1000 μg/ml) for 24, 48 and 72 hours. Finally, the viability of cells was determined using trypan blue dye exclusion assay. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare the cell viability between different groups.

Metoprolol significantly decreased the viability of all cell lines at 1000 μg/ml concentration after 48 hours incubation time compared with control group. Besides, metoprolol significantly reduced the viability of MOLT-4 and Jurkat cells at ≥ 100 μg/ml concentrations and U937 ≥ 500 μg/ml after 72 hours incubation time in comparison with control group.

Based on results of the present study, metoprolol decreased viability of human blood cancerous cells dose and time dependently. Therefore, anti-tumoral effects of metoprolol reported by other investigators might be partly due to its reducing the viability of cancerous cells. So, metoprolol may have potential implication in therapy of blood tumors along with other cancers.