PTEN over-expression by resveratrol in acute lymphoblastic leukemia cells along with suppression of AKT/PKB and ERK1/2 in genotoxic stress.

The bioactive components of dietary phytochemicals are in the spotlight of research institutes, due to their significant antioxidant activities and health-promoting properties. Resveratrol is a polyphenol which is found abundantly in grapes and berries and has long been known as a chemo-preventive agent. The main purpose of this study was to provide a new mechanistic insight into the growth inhibition of acute lymphoblastic leukemia cells by resveratrol along with a DNA damage agent. It was found that the treatment of pre-B ALL cells by resveratrol in the presence or absence of doxorubicin resulted in decreased cell viability and a synergistic increase in cytotoxicity. Cell death was accompanied by a significant increase in phosphorylated p53 at serine 15 and accumulation of PTEN. In addition, resveratrol inhibited the over-expression of p-AKT and p-ERK1/2. These findings clearly demonstrated that resveratrol and doxorubicin synergistically increase the cytotoxicity of pre-B ALL cells via the hyper-activation of two important tumor suppressor proteins and two major signal transduction pathways.