Induction of autophagy, apoptosis and aquisition of resistance in response to piceatannol toxicity in MOLT-4 human leukemia cells

Piceatannol, a polyphenolic compound present in grapes and wine, has been reported to exhibit anticancer properties. Recently, it has been demonstrated to exert antiproliferative and proapoptotic effects in various human cancer types. The aim of our study was to investigate whether piceatannol induces autophagy and apoptosis in MOLT-4 human leukemia cells. Our results revealed that piceatannol activated autophagy in MOLT4 cells, as evidenced by the detection of an increased level of LC3-II protein and a concomitant decrease in p62/SQSTM1 protein level. Moreover, piceatannol induced apoptosis in MOLT-4 cells which was accompanied by phosphatidylserine externalization, caspase-3 activation, disruption of mitochondrial membrane potential, internucleosomal DNA fragmentation, PARP1 cleavage, chromatin condensation, and fragmentation of cell nuclei. However, the toxic effects exerted by piceatannol in MOLT4 cells diminished after longer periods of exposure to the compound. Our findings imply that MOLT-4 cells may acquire resistance to piceatannol toxicity, which may result from the induction of efflux transporters such as P-glycoprotein. The present study provides new data showing that the use of piceatannol as a potential chemotherapeutic agent in the treatment of leukemia may be associated with the risk of multidrug resistance.