Assessment of Cytotoxicity of Dimethyl Sulfoxide in Human Hematopoietic Tumor Cell Lines

Background: Dimethyl Sulfoxide (DMSO) is a solvent most broadly used as a cryopreservative agent. Antitumor effects of DMSO is a recently recognized phenomenon. In this study, cytotoxic effects of DMSO on human monocytes and T leukemic cell lines has been investigated in vitro. Methods: Human leukemic T cells (Molt-4 and Jurkat) and monocytes (U937 and THP1) were cultured in complete RPMI mediums. The cells at different logarithmic growth phases were incubated with different concentrations of DMSO (0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 1, 2 and 5%). Then viability and proliferative response of leukemic cell lines was assessed by trypan blue dye exclusion (TB test) and MTT assays, respectively. Results: DMSO has a cytotoxic effect on the leukemic cells used in this study; dose and time-dependently. This cytotoxicity for all of these leukemic cells was shown at ≥ 2% concentrations of the DMSO after 24, 48 and 72 hours’ incubation time. Moreover, there was not any significant difference between DMSO cytotoxicity in these different leukemic cell lines. Conclusion: All of the used leukemic cells showed sensitivity to DMSO at ≥2% concentrations time dependently. This sensitivity significantly increased with time. DMSO might be a cytotoxic agent for leukemic cells. It might be a useful candidate in design of chemotherapeutic protocols for leukemia as well as other cancers.