Avocados contain a compound that could be harnessed to lead the fight against leukemia, the blood cancer.
The fruit contains a fat molecule, avocation B, which is being tested on AML (acute myeloid leukemia) cells, one of the most virulent forms of the cancer.
Avocation B has already been tested as a therapy for preventing type 2 diabetes and managing obesity, and now researchers from the University of Guelph in Ontario have been seeing how it interferes with the growth and spread of VLCAD, an enzyme in leukemia cancer cells.
“The cell relies on the enzyme to survive,” explained researcher Paul Spagnuolo, and so targeting VLCAD could slow the cancer’s spread. After successful laboratory trials, the researchers are hoping to test the compound on AML patients.
Right now, there’s very little that can be done. Less than 10 percent of AML patients survive beyond five years after diagnosis, and only half are given chemotherapy, with the rest instead receiving palliative care to help control pain. Many who are given chemotherapy die from the treatment, Spagnuolo added.
(Source: Blood, 2021; doi:10.1182/blood.20200008551)
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