Pulsatilla saponin A Induces Apoptosis and Differentiation of Myeloma Cells

Abstract

Objectives: To investigate the performance of Pulsatilla saponin A (PsA) in Multiple Myeloma (MM) cells.

Methods: Proliferation, cell cycle analysis, apoptosis and TUNEL assays were conducted to detect the growth and apoptosis in MM cells. Western blotting was used to identify the change in the protein.

Results: In cell assays, PsA significantly inhibited the growth and apoptosis in MM cells. Cyclin B1, caspase-3, cleaved-caspase-3, PARP, cleaved-PARP, p-ERK increased, while Bcl-2 decreased after PSA treatment. The CD49e positive rate of U266 cells was increased after 96h PsA treatment. At the same time, immunoglobulin and the Free Light Chain (FLC) ratio in the culture supernatant obviously increased. Also, the differentiation induced by PsA was confirmed in the primary myeloma cells.

Conclusion: Our findings reveal that PsA may exert its antitumor effect by causing G2 arrest and apoptosis in myeloma cells. And low-dose PsA can induce the differentiation of myeloma cell lines and primary myeloma cells, probably through the MEK/ERK signaling pathway in vitro.

Keywords: ERK signaling pathway; MEK; Pulsatilla saponin A (PsA); apoptosis; differentiation; myeloma.