Apoptotic events induced by synthetic naphthylchalcones in human acute leukemia cell lines

► Chalcone A1 reduced the cell viability of six leukemia cell lines. ► A1 is non-cytotoxic to peripheral blood lymphocytes and normal human fibroblasts. ► A1 caused cell cycle arrest in all phases according to the cell line. ► Cells treated with A1 demonstrated morphological characteristics of apoptosis. ► Apoptosis was confirmed by Annexin V-FITC method and by DNA fragmentation.