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2007-8-31 18:32:55 |
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An antioxidant found in fruit, vegetables and red wine may help treat leukemia effectively and safely, according to a new study, which found that the compound electively kill leukemia cells, but does not damage the healthy cells. The finding may provide a safe, yet effective alternative treatment to replace the current conventional treatments including chemotherapy and radiotherapy, which kill both healthy and cancerous cells and cause long-term damage to the patients. Leukemia is a group of malignant diseases featured with increased amounts of dysfunctional white blood cells originated in the blood forming cells of the bone marrow. The National Cancer Institute estimates that about 44,000 new leukemia cases will be diagnosed in the United States in 2007 and 22,000 leukemia-related deaths are expected. In the study published online March 20 in the Journal of Biological Chemistry and will be in press on May 4, Xiao-Ming Yin, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of pathology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine studied the effects and the mechanisms of a naturally modified anthocyanidin, known as cyanidin-3-rutinosize or c-3-r, isolated from black raspberries, in several leukemia and lymphoma cell lines. Low doses of c-3-r caused about 50 percent of a human leukemia cell line to undergo apoptosis or programmed cell death within 18 hours of treatment, the researchers found. More significantly, when the doses of the antioxidant were more than doubled, all leukemia cells became apoptotic and died. The compound also induced apoptosis in other human leukemia and lymphoma cell cultures. The researchers found that c-3-r induced accumulation of peroxides, a highly reactive form of oxygen, which activated an apoptotic pathway in mitochondria where energy is produced. In contrast, this compound was found to have no effect on the healthy cells in terms of the accumulation of reactive oxygen species. The results suggest that c-3-r may have the potential to be used to treat leukemia safely and effectively. |
