The effect of quercetin on oxidative DNA damage and myelosuppression induced by etoposide in bone marrow cells of rats

There is increasing evidence for the existence of an association between the presence of etoposide phenoxyl radicals and the development of treatment-related acute myeloid leukemia (t-AML), which occurs in a few percent of patients treated with this chemotherapeutic agent. The most common side effect caused by etoposide is myelosuppression, which limits the use of this effective drug. The goal of the study was to investigate the influence of antioxidant querectin on myelosuppression and oxidative DNA damage caused by etoposide. The influence of quercetin and/or etoposide on oxidative DNA damage was investigated in LT-12 cell line and bone marrow cells of rats via comet assay. The effect of quercetin on myelosuppression induced by etoposide was invetsigated by cytological analysis of bone marrow smears stained with May-Grünwald-Giemsa stain. Etoposide caused a significant increase in oxidative DNA damage in bone marrow cells and LT-12 cell line in comparison to the appropriate controls. Quercetin significantly reduced the oxidative DNA damage caused by etoposide both in vitro and in vivo. Quercetin also significantly protected against a decrease in the percentage of myeloid precursors and erythroid nucleated cells caused by etoposide administration in comparison to the group treated with etoposide alone. The results of the study indicate that quercetin could be considered a protectively acting compound in bone marrow cells during etoposide therapy.