2-Methoxyestradiol(2-ME2)is an endogenous metabolite of 17β-estradiol(E2)with estrogen receptor-independent anti-cancer activity.The current study sought to deter mine the mechanism of anti-cancer activity of 2-ME2 in human acute T lymphoblastic leukemia CEM cells.Results showed that 2-ME2 markedly suppressed proliferation of CEM cells in a time-and dose-dependent manner.2-ME2-treated CEM cells underwent typical apoptotic changes.Exposure to 2-ME2 led to G2/M phase cell-cycle arrest,which preceded apoptosis characterized by the appearance of a sub-G1 cell population.In addition,cytosolic cytochrome c release,increased procaspase-9 and-3 expressions,poly(ADP-ribose)polymerase (PARP)cleavage,and induced expression of caspase-8 were detected,suggesting that both the intrinsic apoptotic pathway and extrinsic apoptotic pathway were involved in 2-ME2-induced apoptosis.Moreover,the expression level of p21 protein was upregulated,whereas Bcl-2 and dysfunctional p53 protein were downregulated,which also contributed to 2-ME2-induced apoptosis.Our findings revealed that 2-ME2 might be a potent natural candidate for chemotherapeutic treatment of human acute T lymphoblastic leukemia when the precise effects of 2-ME2 were investigated further in other T leukemia cell lines and in primary T-cell leukemias.