ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To study the effect of HDAC inhibitor Scriptaid on multiple myeloma IM9 cells and preliminarily clarify the mechanism of Scriptaid-induced cell apoptosis.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The cell viability, cell cycle and cell apoptosis were measured by CCK8 assay and flow cytometry respectively, the relative target gene expression levels were detected by RT-PCR, the effect of Scriptaid on p21 promoter activity was detected by using luciferase reporter assay.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Scriptaid inhibited IM9 cell viability in a dose-dependent manner. Scriptaid induced IM9 cell cycle arrest at G/M phase in a dose-dependent manner. Scriptaid triggered IM9 cell apoptosis was obviously, the mRNA levels of apoptosis-related proteins Caspase 9, Caspase 3 and PARP1 were also activated. The apoptosis-associated factors BAD, PTEN and p21 increased following treatment with different dose of Scriptaid, meanwhile, p21 promoter activity was also activated significantly.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>HDAC inhibitor Scriptaid can promote IM9 cell apoptosis by transcriptional activation of p21 promoter in concentration-dependent manner.</p>