Avocado compound holds promise for treating leukemia

Avocados are responsible for one of our favorite Mexican dips and can brighten up any salad, but a new study finds there may be much more to avocados; a compound found in the fruit could help tackle acute myeloid leukemia.

Avocatin B - a compound in avocados - targets and destroys leukemia stem cells, according to the researchers.

Researchers at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, published their findings in the journal Cancer Research.

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a cancer that begins in the bone marrow, where blood stem cells (immature cells) turn into mature blood cells. 

In AML, the blood stem cells in the bone marrow become abnormal myeloblasts - a form of white blood cell - red blood cells or platelets.

It is estimated that more than 20,000 people in the US will be diagnosed with AML this year, and more than 10,000 people will die from the cancer.

Most common among people aged 65 and older, AML has a poor survival rate, with around 90% of seniors with the cancer dying within 5 years of diagnosis.

But according to researchers, there is a compound in avocados - called avocatin B - that holds promise for a new treatment for AML.

Avocatin B targets and destroys leukemia stem cells

Using a high-throughput cell-based screen to assess the effects of avocatin B on human leukemia stem cells, the researchers found the compound selectively targets and destroys them while leaving healthy blood cells unscathed.

Not only does avocatin B eliminate the source of AML, but its targeted, selective effects make it less toxic to the body, too.

While the researchers say it is many years before avocatin B can be used in clinical settings to treat AML, they have teamed up with Canada's Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine (CCRM) to file a patent for the compound for this use.

With the help of CCRM the researchers are now pursuing commercial partnership that would take avocatin B into clinical trials.

Avocatin B falls into a category of compounds known as nutraceuticals, defined as food-derived products that have potential clinical benefits.

The researchers say they are one of very few research teams globally who are applying the vigorous drug-investigation processes incorporated within the pharmaceutical industry to nutraceuticals.

While most researchers investigate food or plant extracts for their potential clinical use, the researchers here say using nutraceuticals offers a more clear-cut insight.

Extracts are less refined. The contents of an extract can vary from plant to plant and year to year, depending on lots of factors - on the soil, the location, the amount of sunlight, the rain.

Evaluating a nutraceutical as a potential clinical drug requires in-depth evaluation at the molecular level. This approach provides a clearer understanding of how the nutraceutical works, and it means we can reproduce the effects more accurately and consistently. This is critical to safely translating our lab work into a reliable drug that could be used in oncology clinics.

This is not the first study to hail avocados for their potential health benefits. Recently, we reported on a study claiming that eating one avocado daily as a part of a moderate-fat diet could reduce levels of "bad" cholesterol among people who are overweight or obese.

References:

1.  Targeting mitochondria with avocatin B induces selective leukemia cell death, Paul Spagnuolo et al., Cancer Research, doi: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-14-2676, published online 15 June 2015, abstract.
2.  University of Waterloo news release, accessed 16 June 2015.
3.  Additional source: American Cancer Association, What are the key statistics about acute myeloid leukemia?, accessed 16 June 2015.