Abstract: Objective The current study was designed to investigate the inhibitive effect of celastrol on the proliferation of acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) cells. Methods The effect of celastrol on AML cells in vitro was examined by MTT assay and flow cytometry (FCM). Results After the AML primary cells were treated with different concentrations of celastrol, the results were analyzed by MTT. The growth of the cells were significantly inhibited compared with the control group (P <0.01). The results detected by FCM showed that the apoptosis was seen after treated with celastrol with different concentration for different times.The apoptotic rates were significantly higher than that in the control group with statistical significance (P< 0.01).Conclusion Celastrol could inhibit the proliferation of AML cells in vitro, which may be associated with inducing cell apoptosis.