ABSTRACT
The use of Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors (TKI) is still the main therapy for Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML) but in some cases, there is high resistance to TKI due to an autophagy mechanism in resistant stem cells. Chloroquine is a drug that has an anti-autophagy function. The objective of this study was to analyze the synergism of a combination therapy of chloroquine and nilotinib in causing cell death in nilotinib-resistant CML. The research method used in this study was an in vitro laboratory experimental test using peripheral blood mononuclear cells from CML patients that failed with TKI. The results indicated that the combination of chloroquine and nilotinib had synergistic results in increasing the death of CML cells that failed with TKI. This study concludes that the combination of nilotinib with chloroquine is synergistic in causing the death of nilotinib-resistant CML cells and it can increase the death of CML cells compared to nilotinib alone. However, further research needs to be done on the anticancer activity of the combination of chloroquine with nilotinib in clinical trials.
