In vitro antileukaemic activity of extracts from berry plant leaves against sensitive and multidrug resistant HL60 cells

Received 6 March 2005; received in revised form 15 May 2005; accepted 17 May 2005.

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to determine in vitro antileukaemic activity of extracts obtained from selected berry plant leaves (Fragaria x ananassa Duch. cv Elsanta, raspberry Rubus ideus L. cv Polana and blueberry Vaccinium corymbosum L. cv Bluecrop) against promyelocytic HL60 cell line and its multidrug resistant sublines exhibiting two different MDR phenotypes: HL60/VINC (overexpressing P-glycoprotein) and HL60/DOX (overexpressing MRP1 protein). It was found that the blueberry extract was the most efficient against sensitive HL60 cell line (about 2-fold more active than strawberry and raspberry extracts) but presented much lower activity towards resistant cells. In contrast, strawberry and raspberry extracts exhibited the high cytotoxic activity against sensitive leukaemia HL60 cell line as well as its MDR sublines. The values of resistance factor (RF) found for these extracts were very low lying in the range 0.32÷2.0.

Keywords: Berry pants, Leaf extracts, Phenolic compounds, Human promyelocytic HL60 cells, Multidrug resistance MDR, In vitro antileukaemic activity

a Department of Processing and Storage of Plant Raw Materials, Agricultural Academy of Szczecin, 17 Słowackiego st, 71-434 Szczecin, Poland

b Department of Fruit, Vegetable and Cereal Technology, Agricultural Academy of Wrocław, 25 C.K. Norwida st, 50-375 Wrocław, Poland

c Department of Biochemistry, University of Szczecin, 3a Felczaka st, 71-412 Szczecin, Poland

Corresponding author. Tel.: +48 91 444 15 51; fax: +48 91 444 15 50.

PII: S0304-3835(05)00498-2

doi:10.1016/j.canlet.2005.05.018

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