Sulforaphane promotes immune responses in a WEHI-3-induced leukemia mouse model through enhanced phagocytosis of macrophages and natural killer cell activities in vivo

Abstract

Sulforaphane (SFN) is an isothiocyanate, inducing cytotoxic effects in various human cancer cells, including leukemia cells through cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. However, the effect of SFN on the immune responses in a leukemia mouse model remains to be investigated. The present study investigated whether SFN has an effect on the immune responses in a WEHI‑3‑induced leukemia mouse model in vivo. Normal BALB/c mice were injected with WEHI‑3 cells to generate the leukemia mouse model, and were subsequently treated with placebo or SFN (0, 285, 570 and 1,140 mg/kg) for 3 weeks. Following treatment, all mice were weighted and blood samples were collected. In addition, liver and spleen samples were isolated to determine cell markers, phagocytosis and natural killer (NK) cell activities, and cell proliferation was examined using flow cytometry. The results indicated that SFN treatment had no significant effect on the spleen weight, however it decreased liver and body weight. Furthermore, SFN treatment increased the percentage levels of CD3 (T cells) and CD19 (B cell maker), however had no effect on the levels of CD11b (monocytes) or Mac‑3 (macrophages), compared with the WEHI‑3 control groups. The administration of SFN increased the phagocytosis of macrophages from peripheral blood mononuclear cells and peritoneal cavity, and increased the activity of NK cells from splenocytes. Administration of SFN promoted T and B cell proliferation following stimulation with concanavalin A and lipopolysaccharide, respectively.

Sulforaphane displays the growth inhibition, cytotoxicity and enhancement of retinoic acid-induced superoxide-generating activity in human monoblastic U937 cells

“…Moreover, in human being, sulforaphane displays the multiple interesting biological functions: such as anti-cancer effects (Li et al, 2011;Amin and Shankar, 2015;Dandawate et al, 2016;Leone et al, 2017;Jiang et al, 2018;Sita et al, 2018), antioxidant functions (Negrette-Guzman et al, 2013), anti-Helicobacter pylori activity (Yanaka, 2017), photo aging prevention (Sikdar et al, 2016), prevention of obesity (Martins et al, 2018), and general health benefits (Vanduchova et al, 2019). On the other hand, although numerous reports concerning to the chemopreventive and chemotherapeutic properities of solid tumors are available, there is little information on the properities of sulforaphane in leukemia cells (Choi et al, 2008;Fimognari et al, 2008;Suppipat and Lacorazza, 2014;Fimognari et al, 2014;Shih et al, 2016;Shang et al, 2017;Brown et al, 2017;Koolivand et al, 2018). Unfortunately, the understanding of the effects of sulforaphane on human leukemia cells with mechanisms is incompletely explored till now.…”

Activation of Nrf2 by Sulforaphane Inhibits High Glucose-Induced Progression of Pancreatic Cancer via AMPK Dependent Signaling

“…Inducing apoptosis and cell cycle arrest are the main factors attributed to the anti-cancer capabilities of SFN. Recently, researchers revealed that SFN can also promote the immune response in a mouse model of leukemia through enhancing the activities of macrophages and natural killer cells [17]. In pancreatic cancer, SFN can downregulate the proliferation and angiogenesis of pancreatic stem cells by inhibiting the sonic hedgehog signaling pathway [18,19].…”

Beneficial Effects of Sulforaphane Treatment in Alzheimer's Disease May Be Mediated through Reduced HDAC1/3 and Increased P75NTR Expression

“…Thus, the effects of different HDAC inhibitors on various diseases may be mediated through regulating different HDAC types. In addition, other biological functions of SFN, such as anti-oxidation (Zhang et al, 2015), anti-inflammatory (Brandenburg et al, 2010), immunoregulation (Shih et al, 2016), and so on, may also play roles in protecting against AD. In conclusion, the findings support further exploration of SFN as a potential candidate drug for AD therapy and prevention.…”