Sesamin Acts as Anti-leukemic Compound Interacted with Novel Phosphoprotein Targets and Induced Apoptosis in Leukemic Cells

Leukemia is one of the high-incidence cancers that characterized by an abnormal production of immature white blood cells. Subjected to many reports on side effects of conventional chemotherapy, herbs and natural compounds have been studied as an alternative medicine. This study, sesamin, a lignan in sesame seed that has pharmaceutical functions including anti-cancer, was chosen and treated with MOLT-4 and NB4 leukemic cell lines in various concentrations for 24 and 48 hours. The effect of sesamin on cell inhibition and expression levels of apoptotic genes in leukemic cell lines were investigated by MTT assay and real-time PCR, respectively. Moreover, apoptotic proteins were studied by mass spectrometry and bioinformatics tools to investigate the relation between sesamin and targeted proteins. Results showed that sesamin increased cell inhibition in both cell lines in dose- and time-dependent manner. Levels of caspase-3, -7, -8, and -9 gene expressions were significantly increased, while BCL-2 was decreased drastically in sesamin-treated cells. From bioinformatics study, PARP4, IPPK and caspase family proteins were found to be involved in sesamin induced apoptosis in leukemic cells. Besides, doxorubicin, a chemotherapeutic drug, also shared the same protein targets as sesamin in apoptosis pathway. Sesamin demonstrates its potential to enhance cell inhibition and promote cell apoptosis in both MOLT-4 and NB4 leukemic cell lines. This study would be benefit for the development of sesamin as an effective anti-leukemia drug in the future.