Resistance of CD33+ Acute Myeloid Leukemia Cells to Anthracyclines in Three-Dimensional Cultures

Elucidating the mechanisms of drug resistance in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells is a critical endeavor in biomedicine and oncohematology. In our previous research utilizing permanent cell lines, we demonstrated that AML cells in three-dimensional multicellular cultures exhibited increased drug resistance. This study utilized flow cytometry and spectrofluorometry to demonstrate enhanced resistance of primary CD33+ AML cells, cultured in three-dimensional multicellular aggregates, to the cytotoxic effects of anthracyclines. This resistance was associated with the inhibition of the pro-apoptotic signaling pathway, a partial accumulation of cells in the G0/G1 phase of the cell cycle, and an elevation in the levels of the anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2.