Mechanism of dibucaine-induced apoptosis in promyelocytic leukemia cells (HL-60)

Dibucaine, a local anesthetic, inhibited the growth of promyelocytic leukemia cells (HL-60) without inducing arrest of the cell cycle and differentiation to granulocytes. Typical DNA fragmentation and DNA ladder formation were induced in a concentration- and time-dependent manner. The half-maximal concentration of dibucaine required to induce apoptosis was 100 mu M. These effects were prevented completely by the pan-caspase inhibitor z-Val-Ala-Asp-(OMe)-fluoromethylketone (z-VAD-fmk), thereby implicating the cysteine aspartase (caspase) cascade in the process. Dibucaine activated various caspases, such as caspase-3, -6, -8, and -9 (-like) activities, but nut caspase-1 (-like) activity, and induced mitochondrial membrane depolarization and the release of cytochrome c (Cyt.c) from mitochondria into the cytosol. Processing of pro-caspase-3, -8, and -9 by dibucaine was confirmed by western blot analysis. Bid, a death agonist member of the Bcl-2 family, was processed by caspases following exposure of cells to dibucaine. However, 100 mu M dibucaine scarcely inhibited oxidative phosphorylation, but it induced membrane permeability transition in isolated rat liver mitochondria. Taken together, these data suggest that dibucaine induced apoptosis of HL-60 cells through activation of the caspase cascade in conjunction with Cyt.c release induced by a processed product of Bid and depolarization of the mitochondrial membrane potential. BIOCHEM PHARMACOL 60;7:905-915, 2000. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Inc.