The effection of celastrol treatment on SKM-1 cell

Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are myeloid hematopoietic stem cell tumors displaying complex pathogenesis with a high risk of transformation to acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The efficacy of current clinical drugs is limited. Thus, identifying high-efficiency drugs of MDS remain urgent. Celastrol, a natural small molecule compound derived from the traditional Chinese medicinal herb Tripterygium wilfordii, has shown powerful antitumor effects. However, the effects of celastrol on MDS are unknown. In this study, we found that celastrol significantly inhibited the viability of MDS cell lines and bone marrow mononuclear cells (BMMCs) from MDS patients, and induced apoptosis. Through transcriptome sequencing, we found that celastrol induced the pro-apoptotic ER stress response in MDS cell. Mechanistically, celastrol activated the pro-apoptotic ER-stress branch involving the pancreatic eIF2α kinase (PERK) pathway. We treat SKM-1 cell with celastrol and DMSO.