Comparative analysis of the effects of retinoic acid versus paclitaxel and everolimus on HL60 cells proliferation and viability.

PurposeAll trans-retinoic acid (atRA) has been proposed as a novel drug for drug eluting stents (DES). Currently complications of DES have been at least partially attributed to the drugs that are used: paclitaxel and sirolimus and its derivatives like everolimus. We compared the effects of atRA, paclitaxel and everolimus on the proliferation and viability of human leukemia cells (HL60). MethodsCells were cultured with 0.1M and 10M of atRA, paclitaxel or everolimus. Cell proliferation and viability was evaluated with trypan blue at 24, 48 and 72 hours. ResultsAll drugs caused a statistically significant, dose-dependent reduction of cell proliferation rate from the first 24 hours. atRA and everolimus did not affect cell viability as the treated cells showed high viability (95-98%), while paclitaxel decreased significantly the viability to below 16% at 72 hours. Unlike the cytotoxic effect of paclitaxel on HL60, atRA demonstrated a cytostatic effect comparable to everolimus. ConclusionThe ability of atRA to limit cell proliferation without affecting cell viability in a manner similar to everolimus, highlights its potential to be used on DES as a novel drug for treatment of restenosis with potentially minimal side-effects. Further research with different cell types, is needed in order to elucidate the possible usefulness of RA on DES.