Involvement of mitochondrial dynamics in the antineoplastic activity of cisplatin in murine leukemia L1210 cells

Leukemia is a type of hematopoietic stem cell malignant cloned disease with high mortality. Cisplatin-based chemotherapy is one of the most common treatments for leukemia. Similar to other chemotherapeutic agents, cisplatin resistance has become a serious issue in cancer therapy. In the present study, we investigated the role of mitochondrial dynamics in the antineoplastic activity of cisplatin in murine leukemia L1210 cells. Firstly, the L1210 cell line resistant to cisplatin (L1210/DDP) was established. Compared to its parental cell line, the IC50 value of cisplatin in the L1210/DDP cells was increased 10-fold. Mitofusins (Mfn1 and Mfn2), mitochondrial outer membrane fusion proteins, were markedly upregulated in the L1210/DDP cells, whereas the expression of fission protein Drp1 and inner membrane fusion protein OPAL were not significantly altered. In addition, mitofusins were also upregulated in the parental L1210 cells subjected to cisplatin stress. To investigate the role of mitochondrial dynamics in the antineoplastic activity of cisplatin, the effect of mitochondrial division inhibitor (Mdivi)-1 on cisplatin-induced cell death, caspase-3 cleavage and ROS production was examined in L1210 cells. We found that 5 mu M of Mdivi-1 efficiently attenuated cisplatin-induced cell death, caspase activation and intracellular ROS increase in L1210 cells. Our data indicated that mitochondrial dynamics play an important role in the antineoplastic activity of cisplatin, and mitofusin-mediated mitochondrial fusion may be involved in the process of cisplatin resistance in leukemia cells. Therefore, the present study revealed that mitochondrial dynamics may be a potential target used to improve the antineoplastic activity of cisplatin in leukemia in the future.