Gallic Acid Inhibits Proliferation and Induces Apoptosis in Lymphoblastic Leukemia Cell Line (C121)

Leukemia is known as the world’s fifth most prevalent cancer. New cytotoxic drugs have created considerable progress in the treatment, but side effects are still the important cause of mortality. Plant derivatives have been recently considered as important sources for the treatment of various diseases, including cancer. Gallic acid (GA) is a polyhydroxyphenolic compound with a wide range of biological functions. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of GA on proliferation inhibition and apoptosis induction of a lymphoblastic leukemia cell line. Jurkat cell (C121) line was cultured in RPMI 1640 supplemented with 10% heat-inactivated fetal bovine serum (FBS) with different concentrations of GA (10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, and 100 μM) for 24, 48 and 72 hours. The effect of GA on cell viability was measured using MTS assay. Induction of apoptosis was evaluated with Annexin V-FITC/PI kit and flow cytometry. Data were analyzed by SPSS version 20 using Kruskal-Wallis and Dunn’s multiple comparison tests. Decline of cell viability to less than 50% was observed at 60.3±1.6, 50.9±1.5, and 30.9±2.8 μM concentration after 24, 48, and 72 hours incubation, respectively. All concentrations of GA (10, 30, 50 and 80 μM) enhanced apoptosis compared to the control (P<0.05). The results demonstrate that the polyphenolic compound, GA, is effective in inhibition of proliferation and induction of apoptosis in Jurkat cell line. It is recommended to study the mechanism of apoptosis induction in future investigations.