Pomolic acid triggers mitochondria-dependent apoptotic cell death in leukemia cell line

One of the major goals in chemotherapy is to circumvent anti-apoptotic strategies developed by tumor cells. In a previous paper, we showed that pomolic acid (PA) is able to kill the leukemia cell line K562 and its MDR derivative, Lucena 1. Here, we demonstrated that PA-induced apoptosis of HL-60 cells is dependent on the activation of caspases-3 and -9 and dissipation of the mitochondrial transmembrane potential (Δψm). Disruption of Δψm precedes caspase activation and is not inhibited by zVAD-fmk indicating mitochondria as the main target of PA. Our data pointed to the potential use of PA to overcome apoptosis resistance.