Gentisyl alcohol inhibits apoptosis by suppressing caspase activity induced by etoposide

Abstract

In the course of our screening for small molecules to inhibit apoptosis of U937 human leukemia cells induced by etoposide (10 μg/ml), Penicillium sp. F020150 with potent inhibitory activity was selected. The active compound was purified from ethyl acetate extract of the microorganism by Sephadex LH-20 column chromatography and HPLC, and was identified as gentisyl alcohol (2,5-dihydroxybenzyl alcohol) by spectroscopic methods. The compound inhibited caspase-3 induction with IC50 value of 3.0 μg/ml after 8 h of etoposide treatment. The expression levels of caspase-3 and PARP were dose-dependently inhibited by the compound, suggesting that gentisyl alcohol inhibits etoposide-induced apoptosis via downregulation of caspases.