Azoxystrobin Induces Apoptosis and Cell Cycle Arrest in Human Leukemia Cells Independent of p53 Expression

Azoxystrobin (AZOX), a methoxyacrylate derivative, has potent antimicrobial and antitumor activities. Here, we report the anticancer effects of AZOX on the p53-negative human myelogenous leukemia cell line HL-60RG and the p53 positive human T-cell leukemia cell line MOLT-4F.

Using both leukemia cells, the anticancer effect of AZOX treatment was analyzed throughout the cell cycle.

AZOX damaged both cell lines dose-dependently, and the cell damage rates were almost the same in both lines. Cell cycle distribution analysis showed that the treated MOLT-4F cells arrested at the S phase, whereas HL-60RG cells increased during the subG1 phase, suggesting that cell death was occurring. AZOX-induced cell death in HL-60RG was inhibited with the addition of uridine, which is used as a substrate for the salvage pathway of pyrimidine nucleotides.

AZOX has p53-independent anticancer effects in leukemia cells, but the mechanisms underlying the damage differ between cell lines.