Fig. 2

Artesunate induces growth suppression and apoptosis restricted to malignant B-cells. a Cell lines and normal B-cells were treated with increasing concentrations of artesunate (Art) for 72 h, measured by CellTiterGlo and normalized to untreated samples (n = 3–5). b B lymphoma cells were treated with artesunate (10 μM) for 72 h, and apoptotic cells were identified by TUNEL staining. Shown is contour plot for dUTP+ apoptotic cells in control vs. artesunate-treated BL-41 cells, and bar graph for six different B lymphoma cell lines and normal B-cells (mean ± SD, n = 3). c A pan-caspase inhibitor Z-VAD-FMK is significantly reducing apoptosis in the B-cell lymphoma cell lines treated with artesunate (1 and 5 μM for 24 h, mean SD, n = 3). Statistical significance was tested by Student’s t test, P < .007. n.s: not significant