Miltirone exhibits antileukemic activity by ROS-mediated endoplasmic reticulum stress and mitochondrial dysfunction pathways

In this study, we investigated the effects of miltirone in human leukemia cell lines, primary leukemia cells and nude mice U937 xenograft. Treatment of cells with miltirone resulted in apoptosis, mitochondria membrane potential (MMP) collapses, increase of Bax/Bcl-2 ratio and cytochrome c release. Miltirone triggered the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress identified through several key molecules of the unfolded protein response, including phosphorylated PERK, eIF2a, GRP78, GRP94 and caspase-12. Miltrone treatment also resulted in the release of Ca2+ from the ER stores and mitochondrial Ca2+ loading in the cells. Further research revealed that miltirone resulted in dose-dependent decrease in complex III activity and elevated reactive oxygen species (ROS) production in these cells. Miltirone-induced apoptosis, dissipation of MMP and ER stress were dramatically blocked by pretreatment with antioxidant N-acetylcysteine (NAC). In contrast, treatment with ER stress inhibitor TUDCA significantly attenuated miltirone-induced ROS and apoptosis in leukemia cells. Moreover, our in vivo findings showed that administration of miltirone markedly inhibited tumor growth and induced apoptosis in U937 xenograft model with low systemic toxicity. Taken together, these findings indicate that miltirone may exert its antileukemic activity by inducing apoptosis through a ROS-dependent destructive cycle involving ER stress and mitochondrial dysfunction.