Combination of Homoharringtonine with Arsenic Trioxide Induces Apoptosis of Human Acute Myeloid Leukemia Cell Line U937 / 中国实验血液学杂志

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the effects and mechanisms of the combination of homoharringtonine (HHT) with arsenic trioxide(AsO) on human myeloid cell line U937 in vitro.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>MTT method was used to determine the antiproliferating effect of different concentrations of HHT, AsOand their combination on U937 cells; the flow cytometry with Annexin-V-FITC/PI double staining was used to determine the apoptosis-induced effect of HHT and AsOalone or their combination; Western blot method was used to detect the protein expression of P-Akt,P-Akt,BCL-XL, BID,MCL-1,P-MCL-1 and so on.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>HHT and AsOcould significantly inhibit proliferation of U937 cells and induce their apoptosis. The combination of these 2 drugs could significantly enhance the early apoptosis of U937 cells. After combination of these 2 drugs was used, the protein expressions of P-Akt,P-Akt,MCL-1,P-MCL-1 and BCL-XL were obviously down-regulated, but the expression of BID protein did not change.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The combination treatment of HHT and AsOcan synergistically inhibit the growth of U937 cells through inhibition of PI3K/Akt signal way and MCL-1 protein.</p>