title: High-dose mitoxantrone induces programmed cell death or apoptosis in human myeloid leukemia cells.
abstract: Mitoxantrone has been shown in vitro to exhibit a steep dose-response relationship with respect to the clonogenic survival of acute myeloid leukemia cells. In this report, we show that 1-hour exposure of human myeloid leukemia HL-60 and KG-1 cells to mitoxantrone concentrations ranging between 0.1 and 10.0 mumol/L induced internucleosomal DNA fragmentation of approximately 200-bp integer multiples, characteristic of cells undergoing programmed cell death (PCD) or apoptosis. Mitoxantrone-mediated PCD was associated with a steep inhibition of the clonogenic survival of the leukemic cells. In addition, intracellularly, mitoxantrone-induced PCD was associated with a marked induction of c-jun and significant repression of c-myc and BCL-2 oncogenes. Pretreatment with the protein kinase C stimulator phorbol myristate acetate enhanced mitoxantrone-induced internucleosomal DNA fragmentation, whereas protein kinase C inhibitors staurosporine and H7 had no effect. These findings suggest that PCD is a potential mechanism underlying the steep dose-response relationship of mitoxantrone to the inhibition of clonogenic survival of acute myeloid leukemia cells.
authors.affiliation: Division of Hematology/Oncology, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston 29425.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bhalla
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Ibrado
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tourkina
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Grant
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bullock
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Ponnathpur
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Mahoney
mesh_terms: D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects*; D003561:Cytarabine / Q000494:pharmacology; D004247:DNA / Q000378:metabolism; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D016758:Genes, jun; D016259:Genes, myc; D006801:Humans; D007951:Leukemia, Myeloid / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology*; D008942:Mitoxantrone / Q000494:pharmacology*; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2; D013755:Tetradecanoylphorbol Acetate / Q000494:pharmacology; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
chemical_list: D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2; D003561:Cytarabine; D004247:DNA; D008942:Mitoxantrone; D013755:Tetradecanoylphorbol Acetate