In vitro induction of apoptosis for nasal angiocentric natural killer cell lymphoma-derived cell line, NK-YS, by etoposide and cyclosporine A.

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-associated nasal T/natural killer (NK) cell lymphoma has often been reported in Asian countries and has been recently confirmed as a novel clinicopathological entity. The prognosis of advanced stage disease is quite poor and an effective chemotherapeutic modality is strongly advocated. We have established the novel cell line NK-YS, which preserves the original characteristics of EBV-associated nasal angiocentric T/NK cell lymphoma. Using this cell line, we investigated the induction of apoptosis by apoptosis-inducing agents, and expression of P-glycoprotein (P-gp), p53 and bcl-2 proteins. NK-YS showed resistance towards apoptosis-inducing agents and expressed bcl-2 and P-gp but not p53. To overcome this drug resistance, we added cyclosporine A (CsA) and these agents to culture media as a P-gp antagonist. The combination of CsA and etoposide or CsA and doxorubicin induced apoptotic cell death. These results indicated that P-gp-mediated drug resistance is an essential mechanism of drug resistance of the NK-YS cell line. Combined therapy of conventional anti-cancer agents with CsA may have an important place in the establishment of a curative therapy for disseminated nasal angiocentric NK cell lymphoma.