Selected polyphenols potentiate the apoptotic efficacy of glycolytic inhibitors in human acute myeloid leukemia cell lines. Regulation by protein kinase activities

Background The glycolysis inhibitor 2-deoxy-d-glucose (2-DG) is a safe, potentially useful anti-tumour drug, but its efficacy is normally low when used alone. Recent studies indicated that 2-DG stimulates the PI3K/Akt and MEK/ERK defensive pathways, which limits the apoptotic efficacy in tumour cell lines. We hypothesized that co-treatment with selected polyphenols could improve 2-DG-provoked apoptosis by preventing defensive kinase activation.