Biologic activity of triptolide in t(8;21) acute myeloid leukemia cells

Triptolide is a compound isolated from the traditional Chinese medicinal herb Tripterygium wilfordii that shows potent anti-tumor activities, but its effects on acute myeloid leukemia with t(8;21) remain unclear. Here we report that triptolide inhibits cell proliferation and induces apoptosis in a dose- and time-dependent manner of t(8;21)-bearing Kasumi-1, SKNO-1 and CD34+ cells harvested from bone marrow samples of patients with t(8;21) leukemia. We show that triptolide triggers cleavage of the resultant AML1-ETO fusion protein of t(8;21), and causes downregulation of C-KIT followed by inhibition of JAK-STAT signaling. Triptolide downregulates p65 and inhibits the DNA-binding activity of NF-κB. Our data indicate that triptolide might be an effective agent for t(8;21) leukemia.