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Updated: Mar 25, 2026
Proliferation and Differentiation of Murine Myeloid Precursor 32D/G-CSF-R Cells
Published on: February 21, 2018
Pulsatilla saponin A induces differentiation in acute myeloid leukemia in vitro
Tong Wang1,2, Fang Gong1,2, Ri Zhang2
1a Cyrus Tang Hematology Center, Jiangsu Institute of Hematology, Collaborative Innovation Center of Hematology, Key Laboratory of Thrombosis and Hemostasis of Ministry of Health , Jiangsu Institute of Hematology , Suzhou 215006 , China.
Objectives:
To identify whether Pulsatilla saponin A (PsA), an active molecule extracted from Pulsatilla chinensis regel, can induce acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells differentiate.
Methods:
PsA was isolated from P. chinensis, and its effects of differentiation induction on both AML cell lines and the primary leukemia cells were investigated.
Results:
Compared with the untreated control, PsA induced the differentiation of U937 cells, K562 cells and HL-60 cells, represented as the increased CD15+ cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner in all the three AML cell lines, after PsA treatment. As the same time, the cell morphology of these AML cells was changed correspondingly; the cytoplasm/nuclei ratio was increased, basophilic cytoplasm was decreased, and eccentric nucleus and granules were also observed. Also, the same effects of differentiation induction by PSA were confirmed in the primary leukemia cells. However, the specific MEK/ERK inhibitor U0126 effectively abrogated the differentiation induced by PsA in vitro.
Conclusions:
PsA can modify the differentiation activity of AML cells, probably though the MEK/ERK signaling pathway.
