Objective: To investigate whether low-dose anticancer agents could increase the sensitivity of ovarian adenocarcinoma cell line SKOV3 to lymphokine activated killer cell (LAK).
Methods: After SKOV3 cells were pretreated by low dose anticancer agents Taxol, cis-diamminedichloroplatin(CDDP), 5-fluorouracilum(5-FU) for 18 hours, the sensitivity of SKOV3 to LAK was detected by four 51Cr release assay. And the percentage of SKOV3 adhesion to LAK and intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) expression on SKOV3 were detected by improved Grimm's assay and FACS respectively.
Results: After pretreatment of SKOV3 cell with 1.5 micrograms/ml Taxol, 4 micrograms/ml CDDP, 25 micrograms/ml 5-FU or without anticancer agents as control for 18 hours, the cytotoxicities of Interleukin-2 activated LAK against them were 29.7%, 45.9%, 37.2% and 28.5% respectively. The conjugation rates of SKOV3 and LAK were 20.1%, 26.1%, 24.9% and 18.7% respectively. The positive rates of ICAM-1 expression were 52.5%, 65.5%, 68.1% and 49.7% respectively. CDDP and 5-FU increased ICAM-1 expression significantly and the sensitivity of SKOV3 cell to LAK cell lysis was well related to the ICAM-1 expression.
Conclusion: The results indicate that some low dose anticancer agents can increase the sensitivity of cancer cells to LAK cells and it would be useful in clinical practice.