Razi Journal of Medical Sciences

Background: Chronic myeloid leukemia is a common cancer in human, so the goal of this study was the use of natural compound such as cell wall obtained from Saccharomyces cerevisiae (S. cerevisiae) and Saccharomyces boulardi (S. boulardi) and zinc nanoparticles on the growth inhibition of K562 cell line.

Methods: For cell wall preparation, both yeasts were cultured in a basic medium at aerobic condition and 28 °C. Then the medium was centrifuged and precipitately washed with sterile buffer and the cells disrupted by sunicator. Also zinc nanoparticles were prepared by biological method. Anti-cancer property of different concentrations of the yeasts’ cell wall with zinc nanoparticles were assayed by MTT and electrophoresis methods.

Results: The results showed that S. boulardi cell wall significantly (p=0.029) inhibits the growth of K562 cell line compared to S. cerevisiae. Also zinc nanoparticles significantly (p=0.021) inhibit K562 cell line. Results revealed that combination the zinc nanoparticles with both yeasts’ cell wall decreased anti-cancer property but this was not significant at the level of p<0.05.

Conclusion: Based on this finding it should be concluded that combination of zinc nanoparticles with Saccharomyces cell walls could inhibit the growth of K562 cell line in vitro. But these anti-cancer properties would warrant further study on the clinical application of yeast cell wall.