BERBERIS VULGARIS FRUIT CRUDE EXTRACT AS A NOVEL ANTI-LEUKAEMIC AGENT.

Tumor protein p53 encoded by the TP53 gene in humans is known as a cancer biomarker in patients diagnosed with cancer, and it plays an essential role in apoptosis, genomic stability, and inhibition of angiogenesis. Cancer therapies with common chemotherapy methods are effective, as known, but have some side effects. Berberis vulgaris is traditionally administrated as a cancer drug. The current research aims to evaluate p53 as a biomarker in WEHI-3 cell line and to demonstrate the Berberis vulgaris fruit crude extract (BVFCE) as a new anticancer drug. For this purpose, we evaluated the effect of BVFCE in different concentrations against WEHI-3cell line in vitro and determined the quantitative level of p53 gene in the treated WEHI-3 cells. The results demonstrated that even at only 1 mg/ml concentration of Berberis vulgaris crude extract, there was a low level of p53 biomarker expression on WEHI-3 cells in comparison with doxorubicin. Therefore, the current study suggests BVFCE as a reliable anti-leukaemic drug and candidate for anticancer therapy. However, further investigation need be carried out to confirm its efficiency in vivo.

t(8;16) AML developed subsequent to breast cancer therapy.

We report a breast cancer patient who developed acute myeloid leukemia (AML) one year following her adjuvant chemotherapy consisting of cyclophosphamide, adriamycin and 5-fluorouracil. Cytogenetic examination of bone marrow samples resulted in t(8;16)(p11.2;p13.3), which is a chromosome rearrangement observed in de novo and treatment related AML M4/M5 with a poor prognosis.

The human formin-binding protein 17 (FBP17) interacts with sorting nexin, SNX2, and is an MLL-fusion partner in acute myelogeneous leukemia.

We have cloned a fusion partner of the MLL gene at 11q23 and identified it as the gene encoding the human formin-binding protein 17, FBP17. It maps to chromosome 9q34 centromeric to ABL. The gene fusion results from a complex chromosome rearrangement that was resolved by fluorescence in situ hybridization with various probes on chromosomes 9 and 11 as an ins(11;9)(q23;q34)inv(11)(q13q23). The rearrangement resulted in a 5'-MLL/FBP17-3' fusion mRNA. We retrovirally transduced murine-myeloid progenitor cells with MLL/FBP17 to test its transforming ability. In contrast to MLL/ENL, MLL/ELL and other MLL-fusion genes, MLL/FBP17 did not give a positive readout in a serial replating assay. Therefore, we assume that additional cooperating genetic abnormalities might be needed to establish a full malignant phenotype. FBP17 consists of a C-terminal Src homology 3 domain and an N-terminal region that is homologous to the cell division cycle protein, cdc15, a regulator of the actin cytoskeleton in Schizosaccharomyces pombe. Both domains are separated by a consensus Rho-binding motif that has been identified in different Rho-interaction partners such as Rhotekin and Rhophilin. We evaluated whether FBP17 and members of the Rho family interact in vivo with a yeast two-hybrid assay. None of the various Rho proteins tested, however, interacted with FBP17. We screened a human kidney library and identified a sorting nexin, SNX2, as a protein interaction partner of FBP17. These data provide a link between the epidermal growth factor receptor pathway and an MLL fusion protein.

Role of tumor necrosis factor alpha in hyperthermia-induced apoptosis of human leukemia cells.

We used the human myelomonoblastic leukemia cell line PLB-985 to study the effects of temperatures ranging from 37 degrees C to 43 degrees C for 1 h on the induction of apoptosis and cell cycle distribution in leukemia cells. The threshold temperature for the onset of apoptosis was 42 degrees C. Whereas hyperthermia exerted no effect on the expression of Bcl-2 and Bax, heat induced a >30-fold increase of tumor necrosis factor (TNF) alpha mRNA expression and a significant increase in TNF-alpha protein secretion. This endogenous production of TNF-alpha correlated directly with the temperature-induced apoptode effect. Blocking TNF-alpha expression via treatment with pyrrolidinedithiocarbamate or blocking TNF-alpha activity with neutralizing antibodies abrogated heat-provoked apoptosis. In addition, exposure of cell culture supernatant of heat-treated PLB-985 cells to untreated cells induced an apoptotic effect. These data indicate a TNF-a-mediated self eradication of the leukemia cells after heat exposure. Inducing apoptosis with wild-type TNF-alpha or p55 and p75 protein muteins demonstrated that this effect was mediated by the p55 receptor. Interestingly, the autocrine suicidal loop found in immature leukemia cells was lost after granulocytic differentiation with 0.5% N,N-dimethylformamide. These data should be of critical importance for the understanding of the biological impact of fever as well as for developing therapeutic approaches to malignant diseases

ABI-1, a human homolog to mouse Abl-interactor 1, fuses the MLL gene in acute myeloid leukemia with t(10;11)(p11.2;q23).

Recurrent translocation t(10;11) has been reported to be associated with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Recently, two types of chimeric transcripts, MLL-AF10 in t(10;11)(p12;q23) and CALM-AF10 in t(10;11)(p13;q14), were isolated. t(10;11) is strongly associated with complex translocations, including invins(10;11) and inv(11)t(10;11), because the direction of transcription of AF10 is telomere to centromere. We analyzed a patient of AML with t(10;11)(p11.2;q23) and identified ABI-1 on chromosome 10p11.2, a human homolog to mouse Abl-interactor 1 (Abi-1), fused with MLL. Whereas the ABI-1 gene bears no homology with the partner genes of MLL previously described, the ABI-1 protein exhibits sequence similarity to protein of homeotic genes, contains several polyproline stretches, and includes a src homology 3 (SH3) domain at the C-terminus that is required for binding to Abl proteins in mouse Abi-1 protein. Recently, e3B1, an eps8 SH3 binding protein 1, was also isolated as a human homolog to mouse Abi-1. Three types of transcripts of ABI-1 gene were expressed in normal peripheral blood. Although e3B1 was considered to be a full-length ABI-1, the MLL-ABI-1 fusion transcript in this patient was formed by an alternatively spliced ABI-1. Others have shown that mouse Abi-1 suppresses v-ABL transforming activity and that e3B1, full-length ABI-1, regulates cell growth. In-frame MLL-ABI-1 fusion transcripts combine the MLL AT-hook motifs and DNA methyltransferase homology region with the homeodomain homologous region, polyproline stretches, and SH3 domain of alternatively spliced transcript of ABI-1. Our results suggest that the ABI-1 gene plays a role in leukemogenesis by translocating to MLL.

[Inductive differentiation effect of ginsenosides on human acute non-lymphocytic leukemic cells in 58 patients].

Ginsenosides are the main active component of Panax ginseng. It has been shown that ginsenosides have antineoplastic, antiaging, immunologic function enhancing and other pharmacological actions. In this article, result of experimental studies showed ginsenosides extracted from stem and leaf of Panax ginseng (GSL) has inductive differentiation effect on all types of acute nonlymphocytic leukemia cells in primary culture. The effect on M5, M4 was most potent, followed by M1, M2 and the least, on M3. Through analysis, it was considered that the inductive differentiation effect of ginsenosides might be due to the comprehensive effect of increasing intracellular cAMP and inducing interferon. Since GSL have some other important actions, therefore, if it could be used as a differentiation inducer in clinical practice or combined with other antineoplastic drugs, it would show co-antineoplastic actions in many aspect.