Objective: To study the effect of patchouli alcohol (PA) on inducing apoptosis of MV4-11 cells and preliminarily investigate its potential mechanism. Method: The 3-(4

5-dimethyl-2 thiazolyl)-2

5-diphenyl-2-H-tetrazolium bromide(MTT) assay was used to detect the inhibitory effect of PA on human colorectal cancer cell line HCT116

human hepatocellular carcinoma cell line HepG-2

human lung epithelial cell line A549

human leukemia cell line MV4-11

human skin melanoma cell line A375

mice breast cancer cell line 4T1

human mononuclear cell type lymphoma cell line THP-1

and human normal embryonic kidney cell line 293A. The morphology changes of apoptosis were observed by Hoechst 33258 staining method. Apoptosis was detected by Annexin V-FITC/Propidium Iodide staining method using flow cytometry. Western blot was used to detect the protein expressions of NF-κB

p-PKM2 and Cystine aspartic acid protease-3 (Caspase-3). Result: PA could efficiently inhibit the proliferation of HCT116

HepG-2

human A549

MV4-11

A375

4T1

THP-1

and 293A

with IC50 values of 0.26

0.32

0.28

0.09

0.37

0.23

0.24

and 0.33 mmol·L-1

respectively. After MV4-11 cells were treated for 24 h

nuclear shrinkage

chromatin condensation and obvious apoptosis were observed. The 0.1

0.2

and 0.5 mmol·L-1 PA could induce apoptosis of MV4-11 cells

with the apoptosis rates of 7.9%

13.6%

22.0% respectively

with statistically significant difference compared with control group (P<0.05). Western blot results showed that PA could result in changes of NF-κB

p-PKM2

and Caspase-3 protein expressions (P<0.05). Conclusion: PA can inhibit the proliferation of human leukemic cell line MV4-11

and induce apoptosis. Its mechanism may be associated with the changes of NF-κB

p-PKM2

and Caspase-3 protein expressions.