Apigetrin induces erythroid differentiation of human leukemia cells K562: proteomics approach.

Scope: Induction of cancer-cell differentiation is an alternative approach for cancer chemotherapy. There are numerous studies that diets containing an abundance of fruits and vegetables have protection against cancers, and the main agents thought to provide such protective effect are flavonoids. In this study we used apigetrin as a possible cell differentiation inducer and chronic leukemia cells K562 for their pluripotent differentiating potency. Methods and results: Prolonged treatment with 75 mM apigetrin induced erythroid differentiation of K562 cells with specific marker glycophorin A expression and fetal hemoglobin synthesis in treated cells, which was accompanied with G2/M arrest. Proteomics data revealed the downregulation of several proteins expression involved in cell cycle regulation, protein synthesis and nuclear import and export of signaling molecules. Conclusion: This is the first evidence that natural compound apigetrin may induce cancer cell differentiation thus could be one of the possible explanations of its antitumor effects.