Purging effect of dibutyl phthalate on leukemic cells associated with apoptosis.

Dibutyl phthalate (DBP) showed preferential suppression of the growth of leukemic cells and could be used as a purging agent for autologous bone marrow transplantation in the treatment of leukemia. With in vitro exposure of leukemic cells to DBP, most characteristic changes in morphology of apoptosis could be observed by electron microscopy while DNA degraded in this fashion gave a 'ladder' pattern on DNA gel electrophoresis. The obtained results demonstrated that the purging effect of DBP on leukemic cells is mediated, at least in part, by the induction of apoptosis.