Apoptosis induced by the alkaloid sampangine in HL-60 leukemia cells: correlation between the effects on the cell cycle progression and changes of mitochondrial potential.

Sampangine, a plant-derived copyrine alkaloid extracted from the stem bark of Cananga odorata, primarily exhibits antifungal and antimycobacterial activities, but it also displays in vitro antimalarial activity against Plasmodium falciparum and is cytotoxic to human malignant melanoma cells. It inhibits cell aggregation, but no molecular target has yet been identified. We investigated the biochemical pathway involved in sampangine-induced cytotoxicity toward HL-60 cells. These leukemia cells are prone to enter apoptosis after treatment with various stimuli, including genotoxic compounds structurally close to sampangine, such as ascididemin.