Selective killing of leukemic cells by merocyanine 540-mediated photosensitization.

• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.81.23.7584
• Publication Date: 2006-05-31T09:34:41Z
• Authors: F Sieber; J L Spivak; A M Sutcliffe
• Keywords: Merocyanine

In vitro incubation of leukemic bone marrow with the lipophilic fluorescent dye merocyanine 540 and simultaneous exposure to light reduced concentration L1210 leukemia cells by about 5 orders magnitude but spared enough normal pluripotent hematopoietic stem allow reconstitution lethally irradiated syngeneic mice. This simple rapid procedure may find an application in purging tumor from autologous grafts.