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[email protected] 3 Current Genomics, 2017, 18, 3-26 REVIEW ARTICLE ISSN: 1389-2029 eISSN: 1875-5488 Impact Factor: 2.43 Established Human Cell Lines as Models to Study Anti-leukemic Effects of Flavonoids BENTHAM SCIENCE Katrin Sak* and Hele Everaus Department of Hematology and Oncology, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia Abstract: Despite the extensive work on pathological mechanisms and some recent advances in the treatment of different hematological malignancies, leukemia continues to present a significant challenge being frequently considered as incurable disease. Therefore, the development of novel therapeutic agents with high efficacy and low toxicity is urgently needed to improve the overall survival rate of pa- A R T I C L E H I S T O R Y tients. In this comprehensive review article, the current knowledge about the anticancer activities of Received: May 11, 2015 flavonoids as plant secondary polyphenolic metabolites in the most commonly used human established Revised: November 20, 2015 Accepted: November 27, 2015 leukemia cell lines (HL-60, NB4, KG1a, U937, THP-1, K562, Jurkat, CCRF- CEM, MOLT-3, and MOLT-4) is compiled, revealing clear anti-proliferative, pro-apoptotic, cell cycle arresting, and differ- DOI: 10.2174/138920291766616080316 entiation inducing effects for certain compounds. Considering the low toxicity of these substances in 5447 normal blood cells, the presented data show a great potential of flavonoids to be developed into novel anti-leukemia agents applicable also in the malignant cells resistant to the current conventional che- motherapeutic drugs. Keywords: Antiproliferation, Apoptosis, Cell cycle arrest, Cytotoxicity, Differentiation, Flavonoids, Leukemia, Human cell lines.