Indian scientists find 5g to kill leukemia

Indian scientists have found a new compound that effectively kills leukemic cancer cells. Named 5g, it kills more than 70 percent leukemic cancer cells in culture in 48 hours time at an extremely low concentration of 50 micromolar. It did not affect blood cells from healthy individuals, which signifies that it shows a higher toxicity to cancer cells. “After treating cancer cells, they either entered cell death or reverted back to normal cell cycle”, say scientists who tested this new compound.

This effect of 5g was most prominent on leukemic cells, while some cancer cell lines like colorectal and cervical cancer cell line showed less effect, which implies that this drug is of particular relevance in treating leukemia. The new compound accumulates death-inducing reactive oxygen species in cancer cells leading to breaks in DNA, which ultimately causes cell death. “We are working with Mysuru University to improve its efficacy. We believe that it has the potential to be developed as an anti-leukemic agent”, says Professor Sathees Raghavan, at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. 

Daily doses of 5g for 2 weeks reduced the size of tumor in mice. It was nontoxic and moderately increased the life span of tumorigenic mice. The tumor regression was incomplete, because of which, the scientists suggest that 5g needs combinational compounds to increase its efficiency. “We identify a novel inhibitor of cell cycle and provide evidence at proof of principle level that 5g can be developed as a potent anticancer molecule for chemotherapy”, they say.

This study was done at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, University of Mysore in Mysuru, and Institute of Bioinformatics and Applied Biotechnology in Bangalore. It was supported by IISc-Department of Biotechnology partnership. The research team consisted of Mahesh Hegde, Supriya V Vartak, Chandagirikoppal V Kavitha, Hanumappa Ananda, Doddakunche S Prasanna, Vidya Gopalakrishnan, Bibha Choudhary, Kanchugarakoppal, S Rangappa, and Sathees C Raghavan. 

This story was published by Down To Earth, OutlookIndia, Newsroom24X7, BioVoice, Amar Ujala, Dainik Jagran, and India Science Wire. 

 This news appeared in Amar Ujala. 

                                                  This news appeared in Dainik Jagran. 

Dr. Sathees Raghavan from IISc, Bangalore, with his student Supriya Vartak, who are co-authors of the study. 

Reference: Scientific Reports 7: 2533.