The plant-derived natural compound Flavin 7® attenuates oxidative stress in cultured renal proximal tubule cells

Background: Cancer therapies and cancer progression can increase oxidative stress that might account for renal toxicity in cancer patients. Flavin 7 ® (F7) is a natural polyphenol-containing dietary supplement with potential antioxidant activity. Therefore, it might help to attenuate renal toxicity of chemotherapeutics. Materials and Methods: Cultured mouse renal proximal tubule cells were subjected to H 2 O 2 -mediated oxidative stress. Potential antioxidant effects of F7 were assessed by measuring the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), mitochondrial depolarization and injury (lactate dehydrogenase release as well as trypan blue exclusion) in cells that were pretreated with F7 prior to treatment with H 2 O 2 . Results: F7 pretreatment significantly attenuated H 2 O 2 -induced ROS production, mitochondrial depolarization and consequent injury in renal proximal tubule cells. Conclusion: F7 supplementation might be beneficial for cancer patients in order to prevent renal toxicity of anticancer drug- or cancer progression-related oxidative stress. It has been shown that various antitumor therapeutics (1) and tumor progression (2, 3) can increase generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) that might impose an increased risk for injury of the proximal tubules in the kidney. Indeed, higher incidence of renal failure has been demonstrated in cancer patients (4, 5) and antioxidants have been shown to ameliorate renal toxicity of chemotherapeutics (6-8). Thus, cancer patients might benefit from various antioxidant therapies (9). Plant-derived natural products such as polyphenols have shown renoprotective effects from