• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.65-69
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• 2009

The present study investigated the antiproliferative effect of Litsea japonica in HL-60/ADR, adriamycin resistant human promyelocytic leukemia cells. The 80% ethanol extract of L. japonica markedly inhibited the growth of HL-60/ADR cells. When HL-60/ADR cells were treated with the extract, several apoptosis events like as DNA fragmentation, chromatin condensation and the increase of the population of sub-G1 hypodiploid cells were observed. In the mechanism of apoptosis induction by L. japonica, we examined the changes of Bcl-2 and Bax protein expression levels, and activation of caspases. After the HL-60/ADR cells were treated with the extract, the Bcl-2 expression was decreased, whereas the expression of Bax was increased in a time-dependent manner compared to the control. In addition, the active forms of caspase-9 and -3 were increased and the cleavage of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase, a vital substrate of effector caspase, was observed. The results suggest that the inhibitory effect of L. japonica on the growth of the HL-60/ADR appears to arise from the induction of apoptosis via the down-regulation of Bcl-2 and the activation of caspases.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.1119-1124
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• 2012

Background: The effect and possible mechanism of traditional Chinese medicine, baicalin, on the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway in drug-resistant human myeloid leukemia HL-60/ADR cells have been investigated in this current study. Methods: HL-60/ADR cells were treated by 20, 40, $80\;{\mu}mol/L$ baicalin followed by cell cycle analysis at 24h. The mRNA expression level of the apoptosis related gene, Bcl-2 and bad, were measured by RT-PCR on cells treated with $80\;{\mu}mol/L$ baicalin at 12, 24 and 48hr. Western blot was performed to detect the changes in the expression of the proteins related to HL-60/ADR cell apoptosis and the signaling pathway before and after baicalin treatment, including Bcl-2, PARP, Bad, Caspase 3, Akt, p-Akt, NF-${\kappa}B$, p-NF-${\kappa}B$, mTOR and p-mTOR. Results: Sub-G1 peak of HL-60/ADR cells appeared 24 h after $20\;{\mu}mol/L$ baicalin treatment, and the ratio increased as baicalin concentration increased. Cell cycle analysis showed 44.9% G0/G1 phase cells 24 h after baicalin treatment compared to 39.6% in the control group. Cells treated with $80\;{\mu}mol/L$ baicalin displayed a trend in decreasing of Bcl-2 mRNA expression over time. Expression level of the Bcl-2 and PARP proteins decreased significantly while that of the PARP, Caspase-3, and Bad proteins gradually increased. No significant difference in Akt expression was observed between treated and the control groups. However, the expression levels of p-Akt, NF-${\kappa}B$, p-NF-${\kappa}B$, mTOR and p-mTOR decreased significantly in a time-dependent manner. Conclusions: We conclude that baicalin may induce HL-60/ADR cell apoptosis through the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.203-215
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• 1991

Using the calorimetric [3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide] (MTT)assay, we evaluated the chemosensitivity of 8 anticancer drugs{vincristine(VCR), vinblastine(VBL), adriamycin(ADR), cisplatin(CPDD), etoposide(VP-16), cytosine arabinoside(ara-C), bleomycin (Bleo) and cyclophosphamide(CYC)} and the cytotoxicity-enhancing effects of ($\pm$)-ar-turmerone and the extracts of the crude drugs {Lithospermum eythrorhizon(LE) and Scutellaria baicalensis (SB)} on the above mentioned anticancer drugs against HL-60 and KG-1 cells among 8 anticancer drugs, VCR, VBL, ADR, and CPDD inhibited the growth of both cell lines by more than 50%, while VP-16, ara-C, Bleo, and CYC were less effective. ($\pm$)-ar-Turmerone had significant inhibitory effects against both cell lines, showing the ID$_{50}$ values of 11.730 $\mu\textrm{g}$/ml and 0.292 $\mu\textrm{g}$/ml for HL-60 and KG-1 cells. respectively. But the extracts of LE and SB roots showed no significant cytotoxic effects. According to ID$_{50}$ values, the cytotoxicities of VCR, VBL and ADR against HL-60 were enhanced two, eight and three times by mixing ($\pm$)-ar-turmerone, five, seven and three times by adding the extract of LE root, and twenty, six and three times by mixing the extract of SB root, respectively. The cytotoxicities of the above mentioned drugs against KG-1 cell were enhanced two, seven and three times by mixing ($\pm$)-ar-turmerone, two, three and three times by combining wilth the extract of LB root, and two, five and two times by adding the extract of SB root, respectively. The cytotoxicity-potentiating effects of ($\pm$)-ar-turmerone and the extracts of LE and SB roots against HL-60 cell were greater than KG-1 cell.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.1823-1829
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• 2014

Aims: Much evidence suggests that increased glucose metabolism in tumor cells might contribute to the development of acquired chemoresistance. However, the molecular mechanisms are not fully clear. Therefore, we investigated a possible correlation of mRNA expression of HIF-$1{\alpha}$ and GLUT1 with chemoresistance in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Methods: Bone marrow samples were obtained from newly diagnosed and relapsed AML (M3 exclusion) cases. RNA interference with short hairpin RNA (shRNA) was used to stably silence GLUT1 or HIF-$1{\alpha}$ gene expression in an AML cell line and HIF-$1{\alpha}$ and GLUT1 mRNA expression was measured by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction assay (qPCR). Results: High levels of HIF-$1{\alpha}$ and GLUT1 were associated with poor responsiveness to chemotherapy in AML. Down-regulation of the expression of GLUT1 by RNA interference obviously sensitized drug-resistant HL-60/ADR cells to adriamycin (ADR) in vitro, comparable with RNA interference for the HIF-$1{\alpha}$ gene. Conclusions: Our data revealed that over-expression of HIF-$1{\alpha}$ and GLUT1 might play a role in the chemoresistance of AML. GLUT1 might be a potential target to reverse such drug resistance.