β-Alanine is a non-essential amino acid and presents as a major component of various sports supplements. It is a non-proteogenic amino acid, formed in vivo by degradation of carnosine, anserine, balenine, and dihydrouracil. The present study was aimed at investigating the anti-tumor effects of β-alanine in renal and cervical tumor cells. Sulforhodamine-B assay and flow cytometric analysis were used to measure cell viability. Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) expression was analyzed using FITC-conjugated fluorescent antibody. The cellular adenosine triphosphate (ATP) content was measured using bioluminescence method. Cell migration was determined by the simple standard-scratch method. β-Alanine reduced renal and cervical cell growth significantly. Percentage of inhibition of renal and cervical tumor cells was increased at higher concentration of β-alanine. LDH expression and ATP content were significantly reduced in renal and cervical tumor cells in a dose-dependent manner. Renal and cervical tumor cell migration were significantly reduced following 10 and 100 mM of β-alanine treatment. In our study, β-alanine exerts no significant effect on normal MDCK cells except a marginal effect at the highest concentration (100 mM). In summary, our experimental data suggest that β-alanine may be a potential anti-tumor agent exhibiting several anti-cancer effects in renal and cervical tumor cells.
Keywords: ATP; Cancer; Cell viability; LDH; β-Alanine.