With the increase of multidrug resistance, novel anti-leukemia agents with diverse mechanisms of action are required to address this challenge. NK-18, the core region of mammalian derived protein NK-lysin, effectively inhibited the viability of both multidrug resistant and sensitive leukemia cell lines. Meanwhile, this proliferation inhibition effect was not distinct between sensitive and multidrug resistant leukemia cell line. NK-18 showed selectivity between non-tumorigenic and tumorigenic cells. It preferentially bound to tumor cells whose outer leaflet with high phosphatidylserine content. NK-18 acted on the multidrug resistant leukemia cell line by a rapid pore formation on the cell membrane, it is not easy for K562/ADM cells developing resistance against NK-18. Furthermore, NK-18 could neutralize lipopolysaccharides by electrostatic attraction and reduce NO production. These research data demonstrated NK-18 possesses great advantage in the multidrug resistant leukemia treatment compared with conventional chemotherapies and it could be a potential candidate for further research.

随着多药耐药性的增加，需要具有多种作用机制的新型抗白血病药来应对这一挑战。NK-18是哺乳动物衍生蛋白NK-溶素的核心区域，可有效抑制多药耐药和敏感白血病细胞系的生存能力。同时，这种增殖抑制作用在敏感和多药耐药的白血病细胞系之间并不明显。NK-18显示出非致瘤细胞和致瘤细胞之间的选择性。它优先结合其外部小叶具有高磷脂酰丝氨酸含量的肿瘤细胞。NK-18通过在细胞膜上迅速形成孔而作用于多药耐药性白血病细胞系，对于K562 / ADM细胞而言，发展对NK-18的耐药性并不容易。此外，NK-18可以通过静电吸引来中和脂多糖并减少NO的产生。这些研究数据表明，与传统的化学疗法相比，NK-18在多药耐药性白血病治疗中具有巨大优势，并且可能成为进一步研究的潜在候选者。