Figure 2

Synergistic effect of sequential combining DAC and IDA in inhibiting AML cell proliferation. A, Effects of DAC sequentially combining with IDA on cell growth in leukemia cell lines. Cells were treated with DAC twice given for 2 days, and then treated with IDA for 1 day. Cell viability was measured by MTT and IC50 was calculated by the median-effect method. The MTT uptake figures and the effect figures were analyzed by PrismV5.0 (GraphPad Software, San Diego, CA). Statistical differences were calculated by one-way ANOVA. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001. B, CI plots of DAC and IDA sequential combination in human leukemia cell lines. Cells were treated as previously described. The combinations were present in a fixed molar ratios based on the IC50 values of each drug. The effects of combinations were estimated using the CalcuSyn software, which was developed based on the median-effect method. CI < 0.8 indicates synergy; CI = 0.8 to 1.2 is additive; and CI > 1.2 means antagonism. C, AML cell lines U937, HEL and SKM-1 were treated with DAC, IDA, or DAC combined with IDA, respectively, and the survival of AML cells was evaluated by colony formation assays. Mean ± SD. ***p < 0.001, **p < 0.01, *p < 0.05.