Chaste Tree Berry Expressed Various Mechanisms in Inhibition of Leukemia

Oral Administrated ripe fruit of Vitex agnus-castus (Vitex) may reduce the risk of various types of solid tumor cells, particularly leukemia.

Leukemia is a condition of abnormal increase of white blood cells produced by the bone marrow and/or the lymphatic system. Depending on the malignant granulocytes or lymphocytes, leukemia is classified into myelogenous or lymphoblastic leukemia.

Chaste tree berry is a species of Vitex agnus-castus, genus Vitex, belonging to the family Lamiaceae, native to the Mediterranean region, used in herbal medicine for thousands of year as anaphrodisiac herb and considered as Queen herb in treating menstrual problems and discomforts.

According to the Tokyo University of Pharmacy and Life Sciences, casticin,, the major chemical compound found in extract from the ripe fruit of Vitex agnus-castus (Vitex) exhibited strong cytotoxic activities against on leukemia cell lines, HL-60 and U-937 in dose depending manner.


Additionally, the study also expressed an interest result as the levels of cytotoxicity of Vitex/casticin were largely attributed to the degree of differentiation of leukemia cells depending to cancer cell line maturity. in compared to the HL-60 cell line with less mature U-937 cell line.


Dr. Kikuchi H, the lead author said, "casticin accounted for approximate 1% weight of Vitex. Dose-dependent cytotoxicity of Vitex and casticin was observed in both cell lines, and HL-60 cells were more sensitive to the cytotoxicity of Vitex/casticin compared to U-937 cells".

In further study, casticin, also displayed a sigmificant anti leukemia activity cells through expression molecular mechanism. apoptosis and cell cycle arrest observed through different assays.


The application of casticin yielded a result of cancer cell death at 75.3% at 12 in G2 phase in tumor cells cycle division, increased and subsequently declined to 27% at 48 h which was an indication of leukemic cell death via apoptosis and mitotic catastrophe.


Other study in support to the above differentiation, suggested that the extract from the ripe fruit of Vitex angus-castus (Vitex), inhibited the leukemia cell lines probably due to other mechanism such as significant decrease levels of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) and level of gp91(phox), an important component of NADPH oxidase, in production of oxidation, and mediated cytotoxicity in HL-60 cells by regulating ROS generation...


Taking together, Chaste tree berry has a significant implication in reduced risk and treatment of leukemia through number of mechanisms, but intake of large amount should be taken with care to prevent toxicity.


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Sources
(1) Cytotoxicity of Vitex agnus-castus fruit extract and its major component, casticin, correlates with differentiation status in leukemia cell lines by Kikuchi H1, Yuan B, Nishimura Y, Imai M, Furutani R, Kamoi S, Seno M, Fukushima S, Hazama S, Hirobe C, Ohyama K, Hu XM, Takagi N, Hirano T, Toyoda H.(PubMed)
(2) Casticin induces leukemic cell death through apoptosis and mitotic catastrophe by Shen JK1, Du HP, Yang M, Wang YG, Jin J.(PubMed)
(3) Involvement of histone H3 phosphorylation via the activation of p38 MAPK pathway and intracellular redox status in cytotoxicity of HL-60 cells induced by Vitex agnus-castus fruit extract by Kikuchi H1, Yuan B1, Yuhara E1, Imai M1, Furutani R1, Fukushima S1, Hazama S1, Hirobe C2, Ohyama K1, Takagi N3, Toyoda H1.(PubMed)