Avocatin B against blood cancer
A molecule isolated from avocado helps fight leukemia
Margarita Paimakova, VestiAvocado fruits are filled with nutrients, antioxidants and healthy fats, so there are many health benefits hidden under its rough skin. However, a new study has shown that the most valuable secret was still unknown to science. A Canadian scientist has discovered lipids in avocados that could be the key to treating leukemia, since they attack the immediate root of the disease.
Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is one of those types of cancer in which bone marrow stem cells become "inadequate" inhabitants of the body. They displace healthy cells in the bone marrow, which leads to infection and often death. The fatal outcome overtakes 90% of patients over the age of 65.
Professor Paul Spagnuolo from the University of Waterloo in Canada believes that the best way to fight the disease is to eradicate its basis.
He identified a compound in avocado fruits (and named it Avocatin B) that precisely affects "broken" bone marrow stem cells and can be used without causing peripheral damage to surrounding healthy cells.
"Stem cells really lead to disease,– says Spanuolo. – They are largely responsible for the development of the disease, as well as for the fact that many patients have a relapse of leukemia. We conducted multi-level testing to determine how this drug works at the molecular level, and it confirmed that the compound selectively destroys leukemia stem cells, and healthy cells remain intact."
Paul Spanuolo. A snapshot from the University of Waterloo Avocados press release may hold the answer to beating leukemiaSpanuolo's development is still at an early stage, but he is already confident that therapy with avocatin will be approved for human treatment in a few years, which will significantly improve the quality and life expectancy of patients suffering from AML.
Currently, the scientist's group is conducting experiments to prepare the drug for the phase of clinical trials, trying to better understand the effects of the drug at the molecular level.
A scientific paper by Spanuolo and colleagues (Lee et al., Targeting Mitochondria with Avocatin B Induces Selective Leukemia Cell Death) was published in the journal Cancer Research.
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17.06.2015