Anti-leukemic activity of a four-plant mixture in a leukemic rat model

Abstract Background Leukemia is a malignant blood disease caused by the overproduction of a large number of immature blood cells that enter the peripheral blood. Because of the side effects associating the chemotherapy of leukemia, the identification of medicinal herbs, therefore, remains to be an attractive goal to treat leukemia. Results In this study, leukemia was experimentally induced in rats by 7, 12-dimethyl benza[a]anthracene (DMBA) and rats were treated with a water extract of a four-plant (Arctium lappa, Ulmus rubra, Rumex acetosella, and Rheum palmatum) mixture. Application of this four-plant mixture extract successfully recovered weight loss and restored the normal total WBC, lymphocyte and neutrophil counts in a leukemia rat model compared to either the DMSO-treated rats or the leukemic rats before applying the plant mixture. Moreover, this plant mixture decreased the percentage of blasts by two thirds in leukemic rats. By quantitative real-time PCR, sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor-1 mRNA expression in lymphocytes was downregulated in leukemic rats, and this downregulation was significantly alleviated by treating the leukemic rats with the plant mixture. Conclusion This study investigates, for the first time, the effect of this plant mixture on a chemically induced leukemia rat model. Results further support previous reports about the anti-carcinogenic effect of this plant mixture and highlights the possibility of its use in leukemia treatment to avoid the negative side effects of the usual therapy.