The effect of calcium canal blocker, verapamil, on cell cycle and apoptosis in AML cancer cell line (HL-60)

Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) is a hematopoietic stem cell disorder. Many of tumor development steps are processes regulated by Ca2+ dependent signaling pathways placed in tumor growth. Calcium channels, which can be blocked by pharmacological agents such as verapamil, are important in the regulation of intracellular Ca2+ homeostasis. The failure to stop cell cycle and to achieve pro- grammed cell death as the most important factors in AML or other types of cancers are considered to be the real cause of cancer. Our aim in this study was to investigate the effect of verapamil on apoptosis and cell cycle in AML cell line, HL-60, using flow cytometry. The effective dose of verapamil was determined as 50 mg / ml by MTT method, was applied to HL-60 cells and they were assessed for apoptosis and cell cycle. After 50 mg / ml of verapamil application, apoptotic cell ratio was found as 77.7% after 24 hours (p< 0.05). In cell cycle analysis, the ratio of diploid cells decreased in G1 phase and increased in S phase, and the ratio of aneuploid cells decreased in G1 phase (p< 0.05) and increased in S phase (p> 0.05) in verapamil-untreated group when compared to verapamil-treated group.