ANTIPROLIFERATIVE ACTIVITY OF RETINOIDS, INTERFERON ALPHA AND THEIR COMBINATION IN 5 HUMAN TRANSFORMED-CELL LINES

Tretinoin, isotretinoin and acitretin were examined for their capacity to modulate the proliferation of the cell lines: HL-60 (acute promyelocytic leukemia), MCF7 (mammary carcinoma), SCC4, SCC15 and A431 (squamous cell carcinomas). Retinoids inhibited proliferation to a varying extent in all 5 cell lines. The cytokine IFN-alpha had a significant antiproliferative effect only on HL-60, SCC4 and SCC15. The combination of retinoids with IFN-alpha led in all 5 cell lines to a more profound reduction in proliferation than either retinoids or IFN-alpha alone.