Effects of gossypol acetic acid on apoptosis and differentiation in leukemia HL-60 cells

AIM: To investigate the effects of gossypol acetic acid(GAA) on apoptosis and differentiation in classic human actue promylocytic leukemia cell line HL-60 and study the possibility to treat leukemia with it. METHODS: The cytotoxic activity of GAA on HL-60 cells was detected by means of MTT assay. Apoptosis was identified and analyzed with the help of transmission electron microscopy, cell cycle, and DNA gel electrophoresis, etc. The differentiation of HL-60 cells into more mature granulocytes was detected by nitro blue tetrazolium (NBT) reduction test. RESULTS: More than 6 μmol/L GAA could suppress the proliferation and induce the apoptosis in HL-60 cells in a dose-dependent manner. NBT reduction test demonstrated that HL-60 cells could also be induced to differentiate into more mature granulocytes by low-dose GAA (1, 4 μmol/L, P 0.05). CONCLUSION: GAA could selectively induce the apoptosis of leukemia HL-60 cells in a smaller dose than that for human peripheral blood mononuclear cells, which suggests that it may be an ideal drug for leukemia therapy.