Anticancer Effect of Ethanolic Yellow Hawthorn Extract on Chronic Myeloid Leukemia Cells and Acute Myeloid Leukemia Cells

Abstract

Cancer is a disease characterized by abnormal cell growth and invasion and metastasis of these cells to other tissues or organs of the body. Natural products have been used for centuries as drugs or in drug development, especially for the treatment of cancer. Besides, extracting natural products with several bioactive compounds has a promising effect on cancer treatment. In this study, we aimed to investigate the anticancer effect of the ethanolic extract of yellow hawthorn fruits on K562 (Chronic Myeloid Leukemia) and MOLM-13 (Acute Myeloid Leukemia) cell lines. The antiproliferative effect of the ethanolic extract of yellow hawthorn fruits was investigated in time-and dose-dependent manners. The Annexin-V/Propidium Iodide (PI) double staining was used to examine the apoptosis. Furthermore, cell cycle analysis is conducted by PI staining. The cell viability of K562 and MOLM-13 cell lines was significantly reduced by the ethanolic extract of yellow hawthorn fruits with IC50 values of 9144 µg/mL and 3515 µg/mL in 48-hour incubation time, respectively. Moreover, the results showed that the ethanolic extract of yellow hawthorn fruits caused an increased apoptosis by 12.7-and 8.87-fold changes in K562 and MOLM-13 cell lines compared to control groups, respectively. Ethanolic extract of yellow hawthorn fruit has reduced cell proliferation, induced apoptosis and arrested the cell cycle at G0/G1 phase by 71% in MOLM-13 and at G2/M phase by 80.3% and G0/G1 phase by 38.2 % in K562 cells. Further studies should be conducted to elucidate the mechanism of the effect of yellow hawthorn fruit on these cancer cells. © 2025 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.