Objective: To investigate the effective of tumor necrosis factor related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) combination with chemotherapeutic agent inducing apoptosis in resistant hepatic cancer cells.
Methods: HepG2 cells resistant to Adriamycin (HepG2/ADR) were induced stepwise. The effects of TRAIL in combination with ADM (0.1 mg/L) on promoting apoptosis in HepG2/ADR were analyzed, the proliferation was observed by MTT assay, the apoptosis of cells was also observed by flow cytometry and TUNEL method.
Results: HepG2/ADR was confirmed resisting to ADM. Treated with TRAIL combination with ADM (0.1 mg/L), it showed significant inhibitory effect on the growth of HepG2/ADM, the percentage of apoptosis was increased as comparison with control at 24 h.
Conclusion: MDR1 might not take part in resistance to TRAIL-induced apoptosis. TRAIL dramatically augmented the sensitivity to chemotherapeutic agents in HepG2/ADR. Combined TRAIL with chemotherapeutic agents treatment could be a novel and attractive strategy to drug-resistant/ TRAIL-resistant tumor cells.