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Apoptosis in CLL

Prodigiosin induces apoptosis of B and T cells from B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Leukemia volume 17, pages 746–750 (2003)Cite this article

Abstract

We have previously reported that prodigiosin (2-methyl-3-pentyl-6-methoxyprodigiosene) induces apoptosis in human hematopoietic cancer cell lines with no marked toxicity in nonmalignant cell lines. In this study, we demonstrate that prodigiosin induces apoptosis of B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL) cells (n=32 patients). The dose–response for the cytotoxic effect of prodigiosin was analyzed in cells from 12 patients showing an IC50 of 116±25 nM. Prodigiosin induced apoptosis of B-CLL cells through caspase activation. We also analyzed the cytotoxic effect of prodigiosin in T cells from B-CLL samples and no differences were observed with respect to leukemia cells. This is the first report showing that prodigiosin induces apoptosis in human primary cancer cells.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr Ernest Giralt, Dr Marta Vilaseca, and Marc Martinell (Organic Chemistry Department and Mass Spectrometry Unit, University of Barcelona) for the purification of prodigiosin. We also thank Dr Esther Castaño, Dr José Manuel López-Blanco, Daniel Iglesias, Antonio Fernández and Llorenç Coll for helpful discussions and suggestions, and R Rycroft for language assistance. C Campàs and M Barragán are recipients of a research fellowship from the Fundación Ramón Areces and the Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología, respectively.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departament de Ciències Fisiològiques II, Unitat de Bioquímica, Facultat de Medicina, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    C Campàs, M Barragán, G Pons & J Gil

  2. Laboratori de Citometria, Campus de Bellvitge, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    M Dalmau

  3. Departament de Biologia cel-lular i Anatomia Patològica, Cancer Cell Biology Research Group, Facultat de Medicina, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    B Montaner & R Pérez-Tomás

  4. Unitat d'Hematopatologia, Hospital Clínic, IDIBAPS, Barcelona

    B Bellosillo & D Colomer

Authors
  1. C Campàs
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  2. M Dalmau
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  3. B Montaner
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  4. M Barragán
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  5. B Bellosillo
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  7. G Pons
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  8. R Pérez-Tomás
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  9. J Gil
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Additional information

This study was supported by Grants from the Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología and FEDER (SAF 2001-3026) to J Gil, and by a Grant from ‘La Marató de TV3’ (ref#001510) to R Pérez-Tomás.

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Campàs, C., Dalmau, M., Montaner, B. et al. Prodigiosin induces apoptosis of B and T cells from B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Leukemia 17, 746–750 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.leu.2402860

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.leu.2402860

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