摘要：Magnolol has been reported to have an inhibitory effect on tumor invasion in vitro and in vivo . In this study, we found that treatment with 30 μ M magnolol exhibited growth inhibition partly by inducing apoptosis in cultured human leukemia U937 cells and that the apoptosis was induced via the sequential ordering of molecular events; 1) a transient decrease of phosphorylated extracelluar signal-requlated kinase (ERK), 2) translocation of apoptosis inducing factor (AIF) from mitochondria to cytosol concurrent with a decreased membrane potential, and 3) downregulation of bcl-2 protein. Pretreatment of the cells with a pan-caspase inhibitor Z-Val-Ala-Asp-fluoromethyl ketone (Z-VAD-FMK) did not prevent the apoptosis induced by magnolol. These findings indicated that the above-mentioned sequence of intracellular signaling events led to apoptosis in magnolol-treated U937 cells, which was caspase-independent.
关键词：magnolol;caspase-independent apoptosis;apoptosis inducing factor (AIF);Bcl-2 family
