Anti-Cancer Effects of Carnosine—A Dipeptide Molecule

Background: Carnosine is a dipeptide molecule (?-alanyl-l-histidine) with anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-glycation, and chelating properties. It used in exercise physiology as food supplement to increase performance; however, vitro evidence suggests that carnosine may exhibit anti-cancer Methods: In this study, we investigated the effect of on breast, ovarian, colon, leukemic cancer cell proliferation. We further examined U937 promonocytic, human myeloid leukemia phenotype, gene expression, cytokine secretion determine if these are linked carnosine’s anti-proliferative Results: (1) inhibits proliferation; (2) upregulates expression pro-inflammatory molecules; (3) modulates secretion; (4) alters differentiation phenotype. Conclusion: These effects have implications for role therapy.