Sequential Induction of Cell Cycle Arrest and Mitotic Catastrophe Followed By Apoptosis Via Activation of PTEN By GL-V9 in Human T-Cell Malignancies

GL-V9, a newly synthetic flavonoid derivative, is an active cytotoxic component and exhibits anticancer activities. Here, we demonstrated the sequence of death reponses to different concentration of GL-V9 in human T-cell malignancies cell Jurkat and HuT78. Responses included transient accumulation of cells at the G2/M border followed by also transient rise in several mitotic markers and mitotic attempts were largely abnormal, resulting in numerous micronucleated and multinucleated cells in low drug concentration (2μM), as shown by flow cytometre analyses and Giemsa staining. These events, indicative of mitotic catastrophe, were not associated with immediate cell death. However, MTT assay showed that high concentration of GL-V9 (4, 8, 16μM) causes near complete cell growth inhibition at 12 h. Also, the classical manifestations of apoptosis (including phosphatidylserine externalization, mitochondrial dysfunction, and caspase activation) were marginal at 24 h, as shown by Annexin V-PI staining, JC-1, and western blot assay. The mechanism research reveals that low dose of GL-V9 induced mitotic catastrophe via decreasing EEA1, which is required for cytokinesis, and increasing the expression of PTEN. Besides, high concentration of GL-V9 induced cell apoptosis by up-regulating the expression of apoptosis-related proteins caspase 3 and Bim in lymphoid tumor cell lines and primary ALL cells. Collectively, these findings show that different concentrations of GL-V9 can induce mitotic catastrophe and ultimate cell death event of human T-cell malignancies respectively, which would be a potential therapeutical compound for treating human lymphoid tumor.