Adenine causes cell cycle arrest and autophagy of chronic myelogenous leukemia K562 cells via AMP-activated protein kinase signaling

/M phase arrest and autophagic cell death, consequently suppressing the viability of K562 cells, which may attribute to the AMPK activation triggered by adenine. These findings provide evidence that adenine may be beneficial to chronic myelogenous leukemia therapy by suppressing excessive cell proliferation.