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Methadone, Commonly Used as Maintenance Medication for Outpatient Treatment of Opioid Dependence, Kills Leukemia Cells and Overcomes Chemoresistance

Institute of Legal Medicine, University of Ulm, Ulm, Germany

Requests for reprints: Claudia Friesen, Institute of Legal Medicine, University of Ulm, Prittwitzstraße 6, D-89075 Ulm, Germany. Phone: 49-731-500-65080; Fax: 49-731-500-65003; E-mail: claudia.friesen{at}uni-ulm.de.

Key Words: methadone • anticancer drug • leukemia • chemoresistance • apoptosis

The therapeutic opioid drug methadone (D,L-methadone hydrochloride) is the most commonly used maintenance medication for outpatient treatment of opioid dependence. In our study, we found that methadone is also a potent inducer of cell death in leukemia cells and we clarified the unknown mechanism of methadone-induced cell killing in leukemia cells. Methadone inhibited proliferation in leukemia cells and induced cell death through apoptosis induction and activated apoptosis pathways through the activation of caspase-9 and caspase-3, down-regulation of Bcl-x_L and X chromosome–linked inhibitor of apoptosis, and cleavage of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase. In addition, methadone induced cell death not only in anticancer drug–sensitive and apoptosis-sensitive leukemia cells but also in doxorubicin-resistant, multidrug-resistant, and apoptosis-resistant leukemia cells, which anticancer drugs commonly used in conventional therapies of leukemias failed to kill. Depending on caspase activation, methadone overcomes doxorubicin resistance, multidrug resistance, and apoptosis resistance in leukemia cells through activation of mitochondria. In contrast to leukemia cells, nonleukemic peripheral blood lymphocytes survived after methadone treatment. These findings show that methadone kills leukemia cells and breaks chemoresistance and apoptosis resistance. Our results suggest that methadone is a promising therapeutic approach not only for patients with opioid dependence but also for patients with leukemias and provide the foundation for new strategies using methadone as an additional anticancer drug in leukemia therapy, especially when conventional therapies are less effective. [Cancer Res 2008;68(15):6059–64]