Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.
Cell Mol Immunol. 2011 Jul;8(4):289-95. doi: 10.1038/cmi.2011.6. Epub 2011 Mar 21.
Chemotherapeutic drugs eliminate tumor cells at relatively high doses and are considered weapons against tumors in clinics and hospitals. However, despite their ability to induce cellular apoptosis, chemotherapeutic drugs should probably be regarded more as a class of cell regulators than cell killers, if the dosage used and the fact that their targets are involved in basic molecular events are considered. Unfortunately, the regulatory properties of chemotherapeutic drugs are usually hidden or masked by the massive cell death induced by high doses. Recent evidence has begun to suggest that low dosages of chemotherapeutic drugs might profoundly regulate various intracellular aspects of normal cells, especially immune cells. Here, we discuss the immune regulatory roles of three kinds of chemotherapeutic drugs under low-dose conditions and propose low dosages as potential new chemotherapeutic weapons on the battlefield of immune-related disease.
化疗药物在相对较高的剂量下消除肿瘤细胞，被认为是临床和医院对抗肿瘤的武器。然而，如果考虑到所用剂量以及其靶标涉及基本分子事件这一事实，那么化疗药物可能更应被视为一类细胞调节剂，而不是细胞毒剂。不幸的是，化疗药物的调节特性通常被高剂量诱导的大量细胞死亡所掩盖或屏蔽。最近的证据开始表明，低剂量的化疗药物可能会深刻调节正常细胞（尤其是免疫细胞）的各种细胞内方面。在这里，我们讨论了三种化疗药物在低剂量条件下的免疫调节作用，并提出低剂量可能是免疫相关疾病战场上的一种新的潜在化疗武器。
