Effect Of Artesunate On The Treatment Of Acute Leukemia And The Concentration Of Intracellular Free Calcium

Objective:Many research discovered that Artesunate have the effect of resisting tumour cells recently,a few of which reported that Artesunate can induce leukemia cells apoptosis.But most of the research were about the restrain of tumour cells out-of-body without the reports about clinic.We select patients that were diagnosed to be acute refractory leukemia,and collect the bone marrow of which for the cultivation of acute leukemia primary cells.To observe the therapeutic efficacy of Artesunate(Art)in treating acute leukemia and explore the effect of Art on the hyperplasy of human acute leukemia primary cells.Methods,Twenty patients were recruited into clinical research,who were all diagnosed as acute leukemia.They were randomly divided into two groups:the observational group treated with Art and routine chemotherapy and control group treated with normal saline and routine chemotherapy.Symptom and sign, bolld routine test,bone marrow smear,and function of heart,liver and kidney were evaluated before and after the treatment to explore the efficacy of Art. Otherwise,collect the bone marrow of the patient for the cultivation of acute leukemia primary cells.When the cells grow into log phase,they were used for experiment.Art at 50μg/ml,25μg/ml and 12.5μg/ml acted on the primary cells of acute leukemia for 48 hours,then dye the cells with fluorescent probe of calcium(Fluo-3/AM)and fix the cells to the bottom of the plate.Observe the form and the concentration of intracellular free calcium([Ca²⁺])i under the Laser scanning confocal microscope(LSCM).Result:Clinical research showed that the overall effective rate of observational group was 80%,rate of CR showed by bone marrow smear was 60%,the control group was 50%and 40%,and there was no significant difference between them.But the symptom of patients in observational group had improved distinctly, the number of WBC and PLT of patients in observational group recovered more rapidly than that of patients in control group.Art had no toxicity to heart,liver and kidney.Art showed obvious inhibition on the proliferation of primary cells in experimental research,the concentration of intracellular free calcium([Ca²⁺])i increased after using Art in dose of 50,25,12.5μg/ml for 48 hours,then the cells apoptosised gradually.The effect of Art in dose of 25μg/ml is the most obvious.Conclusion:Art was proved to be safe and effective in treating acute leukemia via both clinical research and experimental research.So Art is worthy of generalizing and using in clinical treatment.