Recognition of Phosphatidylserine Externalisation on Human Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia (K562) Cells Induced by Chrysanthemum morifolium Methanol Extract

Abstract

Chrysanthemum morifolium is one of the common plants used in traditional Chinese herbal medicine and currently being discovered as an invaluable source for treatment of cancerous diseases. Conventional approach to leukaemia treatment such as chemotherapeutic agents results in good overall survival (OS) in patients but issues of multi-drug resistance (MDR) and disease heterogeneity can make chemotherapy less effective. Thus there is a constant need for alternative therapeutic strategy such as developing new anti-cancer drug from natural products. The present study is carried out mainly to detect phosphatidylserine externalisation as an apoptosis indicator on human chronic myeloid leukaemia (K562) cells induced by Chrysanthemum morifolium methanol extract.  K562 cells were treated with indicated IC50 values of bud and flower methanol crude extracts for 24 hours. Phase contrast microscope was used to observe morphological changes in K562 cells post-treatment. Annexin V-FITC/PI apoptosis assay via flow cytometry was done to investigate apoptosis phenomena by detecting phosphatidylserine (PS) externalisation in treated K562 cells. Morphological observations using phase contrast microscopy showed distinct apoptotic characteristics in K562 cells treated with both bud and flower methanol extracts. Annexin V-FITC/PI assay demonstrated a significantly high apoptotic cell population and apoptotic rate (p <0.05) in treated K562 cells compared to control cells. The study outcomes presented promising anti-cancer ability for Chrysanthemum morifolium.