Effects of apatinib on the proliferation and apoptosis of FLT3-ITD mutant acute myeloid leukemia MV4-11 and MOLM-13 cells and their mechanisms / 白血病·淋巴瘤

ABSTRACT

Objective:To explore the effects of apatinib on the proliferation and apoptosis of FLT3-ITD mutant acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells, and to explore the related mechanisms.Methods:The logarithmic growth phase FLT3-ITD mutant AML cell lines MV4-11 and MOLM-13 were treated with different concentration of apatinib for 48 hours. The cell proliferation was detected by CCK-8 method. Flow cytometry was performed to examine the effect of apatinib on apoptosis. The cell mitochondrial membrane potential changes were detected by JC-1. Then the expression changes of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR2) pathway-related proteins were examined by Western blot.Results:Apatinib had proliferation inhibitory effects on both MV4-11 and MOLM-13 cells, and the half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC 50) at 48 hours was (2.23±0.42) μmol/L and (4.08±2.62) μmol/L, respectively. After exposure to apatinib with increasing concentrations (10, 20, 30, and 40 μmol/L) for 48 h hours, the percentage of apoptotic cells was significantly increased in MV4-11 cells [(81.95±1.15)%, (88.80±0.23)%, (97.46±0.49)%, and (99.29±0.05)%] and MOLM13 cells [(47.30±0.87)%, (67.00±3.71)%, (82.60±2.89)%, and (98.06±5.34)%] in a dose-dependent manner, and the differences were statistically significant ( F = 6 915.0, P < 0.01; F = 5 385.0, P < 0.01). Detection of mitochondrial membrane potential by JC-1 method showed that after MV4-11 and MOLM-13 cells were treated by 10, 20, 30, and 40 μmol/L apatinib for 24 hours, the JC-1 aggregate/monomer mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) ratios were 0.45±0.06, 0.19±0.07, 0.12±0.03, 0.09±0.01, and 0.84±0.05, 0.66±0.13, 0.35±0.11, 0.27±0.02, which were different from the control group (0.67±0.15 and 0.97±0.42), and the differences were statistically significant ( F = 372.3, P < 0.05; F = 276.4, P < 0.05). Western blot was performed to detect different concentration of apatinib (2.5, 5.0 and 10.0 μmol/L) on the MV4-11 cells for 24 hours, the results showed that apatinib could down-regulate the phosphorylation of VEGFR2, Src and Stat3 in a dose-dependent manner. Conclusions:Apatinib can inhibit cell proliferation and induce apoptosis in AML with FLT3-ITD mutation. The possible mechanism is related to the down-regulation of phosphorylation of VEGFR2 and its downstream targets Src and Stat3.