Changes of Apolipoprotein M Gene Expression During the Cell Differentiation and Apoptosis Induced by Simvastatin in Combination with All-Trans Retinoic Acid in Human Promyelocytic Leukemia Cell Line NB4

We examined the effect of simvastatin (SV) alone and in combination with all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) on proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis and apolipoprotein M (apoM) expression in the human promyelocytic leukemia cell line NB4. The NB4 cells were incubated with 10 μM Simvastatin (10SV) and 0.5 μM ATRA alone or in combination, taking NB4 cells without any treatment as normal controls. The cells of different groups were collected at 24, 48 and 72 h post-incubation for further detection. Their morphological changes were observed after Wright stain. MTT method was used to assay the growth inhibition rate and flow cytometry to detect CD11b expression level and the early stage apoptosis ratio. Real-time quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction was used to detect the apoM gene expression levels. As expected 0.5 μM ATRA did not affect proliferation or apoptosis, strongly induced differentiation and decreased apoM expression. 10SV inhibited proliferation, increased apoptosis, induced differentiation and increased apoM expression in a time-dependent manner. The addition of ATRA to SV did not increase the effect of SV on proliferation and apoptosis, but increased the effect of SV on differentiation. And completely abrogated the effect of SV on apoM expression. Together these results show that SV has anti-leukemic properties by itself and that combined therapy may have a place in the current anti-leukemic arsenal.