The effect of methanolic extract of aerial parts of Artemisiaannua on proliferation and apoptosis of acute lymphoblasticleukemia cell lines, Nalm-6 and Reh

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the most common malignancy among children. The use of natural compounds has invoked a lot of interest in treatment of malignancies due to the adverse effects of chemotherapy treatment. Artemisia annua was reported to show cytotoxic effects on various cancer cell lines. In this study, cytotoxic effects of Artemisia annua extract were investigated on acute lymphoblastic leukemia cell lines.
In this basic research, Nalm-6 and Reh cells were cultured and then treated with various concentrations of Artemisia annua extract; afterwards, the cell viability was evaluated using MTT assay for 48 and 72 h. The Caspase 3 activity assay and flow cytometry following Annexin V and Propidium iodide staining were used to assess apoptosis. Statistical analysis was evaluated by one-way ANOVA test.
A. annua extract showed IC50 of 90 µg/ml on Nalm-6 and IC50 of 70 µg/ml on Reh cells after 48 h; the cytotoxic effect after 72 h was noticeable (p Our results show that methanolic extract of aerial parts of A. annua exerting cytotoxic and inhibitory effects on Nalm-6 and Reh cells.