Can an oral antidiabetic (rosiglitazone) be of benefit in leukemia treatment?

PPARs are ligand-regulated transcription factors and regulate expression of several gene products. Therefore, PPARs are being studied for their possible contribution to the treatment of cancer, atherosclerosis, inflammation, infertility and demyelinating diseases. Primary AML patients were observed to have significantly elevated PPARγ mRNA expression compared to normal peripheral blood or bone marrow mononuclear cells. This study investigated the cytotoxic effects of rosiglitazone maleate, a pure PPARγ agonist, in vitro in HL-60 cell line. This study obtained results which can provide guidance for future studies. Whether the PPARy agonist rosiglitazone maleate may provide additive effects in refractory or relapsing cases of acute leukemia may be set as an objective for the future studies.