Abstract:
Kefir is an important probiotic that contains many bioactive ingredients which give it
unique health benefits. Several studies have reported the anti-tumour effect of kefir on
certain types of cancer. Adult lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) characterized by the
continuous division of white blood cells in the bone marrow, and Adult T Cell Leukemia
(ATL) a malignancy of activated T lymphocytes caused by Human T-cell Lymphotropic
Virus type 1 (HTLV-l) will be addressed in this study. The survival rate of this latter
disease is very slim and there remains no effective cure for this malignancy. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of kefir on three different cell lines:
HuT -102 which is infected with HTL V-I virus, in addition to CEM and J urkat which are
not virus infected. Kefir decreased the proliferation of all three cell lines in
concentrations that are non-cytotoxic in a dose-and time-dependent manner. This antiproliferative
effect seems to be specific to leukemic T-cells as the same concentrations
of kefir when applied to normal T-cells, exhibited no significant effect on neither
cytotoxicity nor proliferation. The decrease in proliferation in malignant cells may be
ascribed to the change in levels of the transforming growth factor (TOF-a)
transcriptional levels. Kefir also induced a 00/01 phase arrest and increased the level of
apoptosis in the malignant lymphocytes as confirmed by flow cytometry and cell death
ELISA assay. This study shows that Kefir exhibits an anti-proliferative and pro-apoptotic effect on
HTL V -I-negative and HTL V -I-positive malignant T -cells. The efficacy of the use of
Kefir as a potential therapeutic agent needs to be addressed.
