Induction of apoptosis by furanodiene in HL60 leukemia cells through activation of TNFR1 signaling pathway

Furanodiene, a natural product isolated from Curcuma wenyujin, has been reported to produce cytotoxic effect. In this study, we investigated its effects on human leukemia HL60 cells. Furanodiene induced apoptosis of HL60 cells, characterized by DNA fragmentation, cleavage of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP), caspase-3, caspase-8 and caspase-9. In the Bcl-2 family proteins, Bid protein (a substrate of caspase-8) was activated by furanodiene, but Bcl-2, Bax and Bcl-xL proteins were not influenced by furanodiene stimulation. Moreover, furanodiene treatment caused the upregulation of tumor necrosis factor receptor 1 (TNFR1), the formation of TNFR1 complex and an obvious production of TNF-α in HL60 cells. The soluble TNFR1 receptor effectively inhibited furanodiene-induced apoptosis. Taken together, furanodiene could inhibit the growth of leukemia cells via induction of apoptosis, and TNFR1-mediated extrinsic apoptotic pathways explains furanodiene-induced apoptosis.