Gossypol induced apoptosis in the human promyelocytic leukemia cell line HL 60.

In human promyelocytic leukemia cell line HL60, apoptosis was induced by treatment with gossypol that is an inhibitor of protein kinase C. Gossypol acetic acid was added to HL 60 cells at 50, 100, 150 and 200 microM concentrations for six hours. Morphological features of apoptosis as well as internucleosomal DNA fragmentation were evaluated by light microscope, agarose gel electrophoresis and spectrofluorometric quantitation. Our results indicated that with the effective concentrations of gossypol (50 and 100 microM), apoptosis was induced in HL 60 cells.