Tetramethylpyrazine (TMP) has been proven to be an anticancer agent in many studies. However, its effectiveness in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and its molecular mechanisms are still unclear. The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of TMP against Jurkat and SUP-B15 ALL cell lines and to investigate the possible detailed mechanism of action of TMP. A Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) assay was employed to examine the proliferation of Jurkat and SUP-B15 cells. Flow cytometric analysis was conducted to detect the cell cycle distribution and apoptotic rate. The expression of total glycogen synthase kinase-3β (GSK-3β), cox-2, survivin, bcl-2 and p27 RNA and protein levels was detected by quantitative real-time PCR and western blot assay, respectively. Additionally, western blot analysis was used to determine the whole-cell and nuclear protein levels of GSK-3β downstream transcription factors, NF-κB (p65) and c-myc. TMP inhibited the proliferation of Jurkat and SUP-B15 cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner, with IC₅₀ values of 120 and 200 µg/ml, respectively at 48 h. TMP induced the apoptosis of Jurkat and SUP-B15 cells and synergistically blocked cell cycle progression at the G0/G1 phase. Cells treated with TMP exhibited significantly attenuated GSK-3β, NF-κB (p65) and c-myc expression, followed by downregulation of bcl-2, cox-2 and survivin and an upregulation of p27. The results showed that TMP induced apoptosis and caused cell cycle arrest in Jurkat and SUP-B15 cells through the downregulation of GSK-3β, which may have further prevented the induced translocation of NF-κB and c-myc from the cytoplasm to the nucleus.

The disruption of normal hematopoiesis has been observed in leukemia, but the mechanism is unclear. Osteoblasts originate from bone mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) and can maintain normal hematopoiesis. To investigate how leukemic cells inhibit the osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs and the role of Notch signaling in this process, we cocultured BMSCs with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) cells in osteogenic induction medium. The expression levels of Notch1, Hes1, and the osteogenic markers Runx2, Osteopontin (OPN), and Osteocalcin (OCN) were assessed by real-time RT-PCR and western blotting on day 3. Alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity was analyzed using an ALP kit, and mineralization deposits were detected by Alizarin red S staining on day 14. And then we treated BMSCs with Jagged1 and anti-Jagged1 neutralizing Ab. The expression of Notch1, Hes1, and the abovementioned osteogenic differentiation markers was measured. Inhibition of the expression of Runx2, OPN, and OCN and reduction of ALP activity and mineralization deposits were observed in BMSCs cocultured with ALL cells, while Notch signal inhibiting rescued these effects. All these results indicated that ALL cells could inhibit the osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs by activating Notch signaling, resulting in a decreased number of osteoblastic cells, which may impair normal hematopoiesis.

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