Kefir may be an effective treatment for erythroleukemia on HWN RESEARCH

Acute erythroleukemia is an uncommon subtype of acute myeloid leukemia which has been considered to be a subtype of AML with a worse prognosis. Intensive chemotherapy is the first line of treatment.

In recent years, the effect of kefir on some malignancies has been experimented. Kefir is a kind of beverage, which obtained by incubation of kefir grains with raw milk. Kefir grains are a symbiotic complex of different kinds of yeasts and bacteria, especially lactic acid bacteria which gather in a mostly carbohydrate matrix, named kefiran.

We investigated the effect of kefir on acute erythroleukemia cell line (KG-1) and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). The cell line and PBMCs were treated with different doses of kefir and milk and incubated for three different times.

We used Polymixin B to block the lipopolysaccharide and NaOH (1 mol/l) to neutralize the acidic media. Viability was detected by MTT assay. Apoptosis and necrosis were assessed by annexin-propidium iodide staining.

Our results showed that kefir induced apoptosis and necrosis in KG-1 cell line. It was revealed that kefir decreased proliferation in erythroleukemia cell line. We did not observe a remarkable effect of kefir on PBMCs.

Our study suggested that kefir may have potential to be an effective treatment for erythroleukemia.

Source: GreenMed, HWN Africa.