Mitoxantrone induces nonimmunological histamine release from rat mast cells.

The antineoplastic drug mitoxantrone (MTX) elicits a fast noncytotoxic and nonimmunological histamine release from peritoneal and pleural rat mast cells. The non specific phosphodiesterase inhibitor isobuthyl-methylxantine (1 mM) decreases the potency of MTX. Theophylline (10 mM) decreases both the potency and the efficacy of MTX-induced histamine secretion. The protein kinase C (PKC) activator, tetradecanoyl-phorbol-13-acetate (50 ng/mL), enhances the effect of MTX, whereas the non specific PKC inhibitor trifluoperazine (10 microM) exerts no effect. Histamine release was also unaffected by substances acting on G-proteins, namely pertussis toxin (200 ng/mL), cholera toxin (300 mg/mL) and benzalkonium chloride (10 micrograms/ mL). The inhibition of protein phosphatases 1 and 2A by okadaic acid (1 microM) does not modify the response. The results indicate that mitoxantrone elicits the exocytosis in mast cells by a mechanism similar to the parent compound adriamycine, but different to the polyamine compound 48/80.