ATRA is an active metabolite of vitamin A that is frequently used for the treatment of acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) patients. Despite the success of this treatment, some APL patients are refractory or relapse. This emphasis the need for new therapeutic strategies aiming to improve the anti-cancer effect of ATRA. We and other have previously shown that autophagy is activated during ATRA-induced granulocytic differentiation of acute promyelocytic leukemia cells. Although the transcription effect of ATRA on autophagy has been well-documented, little is known on the post-transcription/ post-translational regulation autophagy in response to ATRA. Given the importance of calcium ions in the control of autophagy, we hypothesized that calcium ions are involved in the initiation of autophagy by ATRA in APL cells. We thus examined how ATRA regulate intracellular calcium and sense perturbation of Ca2+ responses to autophagy, differentiation and cell death in APL cells.