The anti-leukemic effect of carnosic acid combined with adriamycin in a K562/A02/SCID leukemia mouse model.

The effects of carnosic acid (CA) were investigated on the acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cell growth in vivo. A NOD/SCID AML mouse model, which was set up by inoculation with K562/A02 cells, was used to study whether tumor growth in vivo can be inhibited by CA combined with adriamycin. After being inoculated with K562/A02 cells, the NOD/SCID mice were expressed positive human mdr1 and bcr/abl genes. This result indicates that the K562/A02/SCID leukemia mouse model is successfully established. The mice treated with CA combined with adriamycin exhibit a significant lower number of leukemia cells (20%) than that of untreated animals (32.5%) (P<0.05), in particular with higher percentages of apoptotic cells than the mice treated by single adriamycin (control) group. The median of 95% CI survival time is 19 (10.0-44.2) and 33 (29.4-36.6) days for the control group and the CA-treated group, respectively. The difference is statistically significant (P<0.05). It is illustrated that the natural compound CA, combined with Adriamycin, has high potential to inhibit the growth of malignant cells in vivo, and is a promising adjuvant anti-cancer drug. Prospective studies should be conducted to understand the functional mechanism of CA at the molecular level.