Anthocyanidins May Help Treat Leukemia

Anthocyanidins are a group of naturally occurring antioxidants found in fruits and vegetables as well as red wine which have previously been proven to have chemopreventive properties. A new study indicates that these compounds can also selectively kill leukemia cells in culture without discernible toxicity against healthy cells.

Dr. Yin and his collaborators studied the effects and the mechanisms of the most common type of a naturally modified anthocyanidin, known as cyanidin-3-rutinoside, or C-3-R, which was extracted and purified from black raspberries, in several leukemia and lymphoma cell lines.

They found that C-3-R caused about 50 percent of a human leukemia cell line known as HL-60 to undergo programmed cell death, or apoptosis, within about 18 hours of treatment at low doses. When they more than doubled the concentration of C-3-R, virtually all of the leukemia cells became apoptotic and died. C-3-R also induced apoptosis in other human leukemia and lymphoma cell lines.

Because of this chemopreventive property, scientists believe these compounds may have potential as a therapeutic against leukemia and lymphoma. In another study, black raspberry compounds have also been demonstrated to help fight skin cancer.