Cytotoxicity of TRAIL/anticancer drug combinations in human normal cells.

TRAIL (TNF-alpha-Related Apoptosis-Inducing Ligand) is a promising anticancer agent. In fact, it induces apoptosis in cancer cells and not in most normal cells. Nevertheless, certain cancer cells are resistant to TRAIL-induced apoptosis and this could limit TRAIL's efficiency in cancer therapy. To overcome TRAIL resistance, a combination of TRAIL with chemotherapy could be used in cancer treatment. However, sensitivity of human normal cells to such combinations is not well known. We showed in this study that TRAIL/cisplatin, in contrast to TRAIL/5-fluorouracil, was toxic toward human primary hepatocytes and resting lymphocytes. Furthermore, both combinations are toxic toward PHA-IL2-activated lymphocytes. In contrast, freshly isolated neutrophils are resistant to TRAIL in combination or not with anticancer drugs.