Bioactive Compound Betanin Kills Chronic Myeloid Leukemia Cells in Vitro

By Kyle J. Norton

Chronic myeloid leukemia  (CML) is a medical condition associated with the overgrowth of immature cells started in the blood-forming cells of the bone marrow.

In other words, compared to normal cells which will die after a limited cell division, chronic myeloid leukemia cells continue to divide with no meaning of dying or stopping, leading to proliferation that affects other healthy cells in the bone marrow.

At the advanced stage, chronic myeloid leukemia cell can leak to the bloodstream, leading to secondary metastasis, depending on the infected tissues and organ.

According to the statistics provided by the American Cancer Society, in 2019, approximately, 8,990 new cases will be diagnosed with CML (5,250 in men and 3,740 in women. and CML is expected to cause the death of 1,140 people including 660 men and 480 women.

More precisely, CML accounts for 15% of all cases of leukemia diagnosed each year. In other words, the lifetime risk of CML in the US is 1 person in 526.

The 5-year survival rate of patients treated with chemo drug imatinib (Gleevec®) including all stages of CML is 90%.

Although the increased with age and male gender are 2 of factors involved in the onset of the condition, some researchers suggested genetic proposition also plays a critical role in increasing risk

of CML.

The Bethesda (MD): National Center for Biotechnology Information (US); 1998, wrote in the book of "Genes and Disease", "A mouse model has been created that develops a CML-like disease when given bone marrow cells infected with a virus containing the BCR-ABL gene. In other animal models, the fusion proteins have been shown to transform normal blood precursor cells to malignant cells".

And, "To research the human disease, antisense oligomers (short DNA segments) that block BCR-ABL were developed that specifically suppressed the formation of leukemic cells while not affecting the normal bone marrow cell development. These and other experimental techniques may lead to future treatments for CML". 

The findings suggested that people with certain gene mutation are prone to the development of CML compared to those do not.

Betanin is Phytochemicals in the class of red and yellow indole-derived pigments of Betacyanins, belonging to the group of Betalains, found abundantly in beets, chard, etc.

In the urgency to find natural ingredients for the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia, researchers investigated the antiproliferative effects of betanin, a principle betacyanin pigment, on the human chronic myeloid leukemia cell line (K562).

Administration of betanin decreased the proliferation of K562 cells with an IC(50) of 40 microM in a dose and time-dependent manner.

According to the scanning and transmission electron microscopy, betanin induced cancer cell death by the pro-apoptotic characteristics of chromatin condensation, cell shrinkage and membrane blebbing.

Chronic myeloid leukemia cell line (K562) treated by betanin also showed fragmentation pattern typical for apoptotic cells.

Observed by the flow cytometric analysis, cancer cells treated with 40 microM of betanin showed 28.4% of cells in sub G0/G1 phase, an indication of cell cycle arrest.

According to the confocal microscopic studies, betanin inhibited the expression of the chronic myeloid leukemia cell line (K562)by gaining entry directly into the cells.

Based on the finding, researchers suggested that betanin induced chronic myeloid leukemia cell line (K562) death within the cell such as inducing the release of cytochrome c from mitochondria into the cytosol.

Taken altogether, betanin may be considered supplements for the prevention and treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia, pending to the confirmation of the larger sample size and multicenter human study.

Intake of betanin in the form of supplement should be taken with extreme care to prevent overdose acute liver toxicity.

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Author Biography
Kyle J. Norton (Scholar, Master of Nutrition, All right reserved)
Health article writer and researcher; Over 10.000 articles and research papers have been written and published online, including worldwide health, ezine articles, article base, health blogs, self-growth, best before it's news, the karate GB daily, etc.,.
Named TOP 50 MEDICAL ESSAYS FOR ARTISTS & AUTHORS TO READ by Disilgold.com Named 50 of the best health Tweeters Canada - Huffington Post
Nominated for shorty award over last 4 years
Some articles have been used as references in medical research, such as international journal Pharma and Bioscience, ISSN 0975-6299.

Sources
(1) Betanin a betacyanin pigment purified from fruits of Opuntia ficus-indica induces apoptosis in human chronic myeloid leukemia Cell line-K562 by Sreekanth D1, Arunasree MK, Roy KR, Chandramohan Reddy T, Reddy GV, Reddanna P. (PubMed)
(2) Genes and Disease by National Center for Biotechnology Information (US), Bethesda (MD): National Center for Biotechnology Information (US); 1998. (NCBI)