The trace element – a weapon in the battle against acute myeloid leukemia

A diet high in selenium can help prevent it acute myeloid leukemia (AML), the most common blood and bone marrow cancer in adults, according to a research team from Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences. In the related study, published in Cell Reportsthe research team explains the mechanism by which this happens, noting that their findings could help create drug treatments.

Earlier, scientists had discovered that selenium, a trace element found naturally in many foods, such as Brazil nuts, fish and seafood, liver, red meat and poultry, as well as in various plant-based foods such as grains, seeds and vegetables, stimulates the production of compounds, such as prostaglandins and the cyclopentenonewhich seem to they neutralize the pathological primitive hematopoietic cells (stem cells) of leukemia.

THE acute marrow leukemia characterized by the proliferation of abnormal stem cells, which cause damage to the bone marrow, blood and other tissues, explains lead author Sandeep Prabhu, professor of immunology and molecular toxicology and head of the Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences. The stem cells that cause leukemia look like normal stem cells. “Treatment of acute myeloid leukemia is difficult precisely because of these persistent stem cells that initiate the leukemia, which most available treatments do not target, resulting in the risk of disease relapse,” said Dr. Prabhu.

The new study showed that the CyPG prostaglandins activate it GPR44 genewhich encodes a G protein-coupled receptor on a cell membrane, aimed at neutralizing leukemia stem cells.

“The function of the GPR44 receptor is not fully understood,” said study co-author Robert Paulson, a professor in the Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences. “It is thought to help function certain immune cells and regulate type 2 immune responses. However, the new study describes an entirely new function: Prostaglandin is able to cause cell death in primitive leukemia cells” he adds.

To test GPR44’s role in neutralizing harmful cells, the research team transplanted these stem cells from mice lacking GPR44 into mice that had the receptor. Each of the rodents was fed different amounts of selenium before the transplants. The team then looked at whether and how quickly the disease progressed in the different groups.

“We had previously found that if we gave mice selenium, we could treat their leukemia, making it less aggressive or even curing it,” said Dr. Paulson. The result was that mice with the GPR44 receptor that received selenium supplementation fared significantly better than those in which the receptor had been deleted.

“In the mice that they don’t have the receptor, the leukemia becomes extremely aggressive”, revealed Dr. Prabhu, pointing out that the presence of the receptor contributed to the neutralization of the leukemia cells, without, however, being observed to affect normal hematopoietic stem cells. This results in a safe treatment regimen, which can also help with normal blood cell formation during leukemia as well.

Dr. Paulson noted that the presence of GPR44 could act as a biomarker for disease aggressiveness, as well as whether a patient’s cells will respond to the prostaglandin and possible related treatments.

“We think we now have a good basis for developing treatments,” he said. “Some patients will never respond to a medication because they simply don’t have the right receptors,” commented Dr. Prabhu The researchers are working with faculty at Penn State’s College of Medicine to confirm their findings, with the hope of moving immediately to clinical trials in leukemia patients.