{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,5]],"date-time":"2026-08-05T00:32:45Z","timestamp":1785889965822,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":37,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,4,23]],"date-time":"2023-04-23T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1682208000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"CONACyT","award":["CB-2013-221363"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["CB-2013-221363"]}]},{"name":"CONACyT","award":["INFR-2014-230603"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["INFR-2014-230603"]}]},{"name":"CONACyT","award":["CIC 14.5"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["CIC 14.5"]}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100004803","name":"Universidad Michoacana de San Nicol\u00e1s de Hidalgo","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["CB-2013-221363"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["CB-2013-221363"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100004803","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100004803","name":"Universidad Michoacana de San Nicol\u00e1s de Hidalgo","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["INFR-2014-230603"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["INFR-2014-230603"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100004803","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100004803","name":"Universidad Michoacana de San Nicol\u00e1s de Hidalgo","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["CIC 14.5"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["CIC 14.5"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100004803","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Molecules"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Cancer is a relevant health problem worldwide. In 2020, leukemias represented the 13th most commonly reported cancer cases worldwide but the 10th most likely to cause deaths. There has been a progressive increase in the efficacy of treatments for leukemias; however, these still generate important side effects, so it is imperative to search for new alternatives. Defensins are a group of antimicrobial peptides with activity against cancer cells. However, the cytotoxic mechanism of these peptides has been described mainly for animal defensins. This study shows that defensin \u03b3-thionin (Capsicum chinense) is cytotoxic to the K562 leukemia cells with an IC50 = 290 \u03bcg\/mL (50.26 \u03bcM) but not for human peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Results showed that \u03b3-thionin did not affect the membrane potential; however, the peptide modified the mitochondrial membrane potential (\u0394\u03a8m) and the intracellular calcium release. In addition, \u03b3-thionin induced apoptosis in K562 cells, but the activation of caspases 8 and 9 was not detected. Moreover, the activation of calpains was detected at one hour of treatment, suggesting that \u03b3-thionin activates the caspase-independent apoptosis. Furthermore, the \u03b3-thionin induced epigenetic modifications on histone 3 in K562 cells, increased global acetylation (~2-fold), and specific acetylation marks at lysine 9 (H3K9Ac) (~1.5-fold). In addition, \u03b3-thionin increased the lysine 9 methylation (H3K9me) and dimethylation marks (H3K9me2) (~2-fold), as well as the trimethylation mark (H3K9me3) (~2-fold). To our knowledge, this is the first report of a defensin that triggers caspase-independent apoptosis in cancer cells via calpains and regulating chromatin remodelation, a novel property for a plant defensin.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/molecules28093661","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,4,24]],"date-time":"2023-04-24T02:31:05Z","timestamp":1682303465000},"page":"3661","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":7,"title":["The Antimicrobial Peptide \u03b3-Thionin from Habanero Chile (Capsicum chinense) Induces Caspase-Independent Apoptosis on Human K562 Chronic Myeloid Leukemia Cells and Regulates Epigenetic Marks"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"28","author":[{"given":"Luis Jos\u00e9","family":"Flores-Alvarez","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Centro Multidisciplinario de Estudios en Biotecnolog\u00eda, Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria y Zootecnia, Universidad Michoacana de San Nicol\u00e1s de Hidalgo, Km 9.5 Carretera Morelia-Zinap\u00e9cuaro, Posta Veterinaria, Morelia C.P. 58893, Mexico"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Paola","family":"Jim\u00e9nez-Alc\u00e1ntar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centro Multidisciplinario de Estudios en Biotecnolog\u00eda, Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria y Zootecnia, Universidad Michoacana de San Nicol\u00e1s de Hidalgo, Km 9.5 Carretera Morelia-Zinap\u00e9cuaro, Posta Veterinaria, Morelia C.P. 58893, Mexico"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3441-2989","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Alejandra","family":"Ochoa-Zarzosa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centro Multidisciplinario de Estudios en Biotecnolog\u00eda, Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria y Zootecnia, Universidad Michoacana de San Nicol\u00e1s de Hidalgo, Km 9.5 Carretera Morelia-Zinap\u00e9cuaro, Posta Veterinaria, Morelia C.P. 58893, Mexico"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3269-9202","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Joel E.","family":"L\u00f3pez-Meza","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centro Multidisciplinario de Estudios en Biotecnolog\u00eda, Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria y Zootecnia, Universidad Michoacana de San Nicol\u00e1s de Hidalgo, Km 9.5 Carretera Morelia-Zinap\u00e9cuaro, Posta Veterinaria, Morelia C.P. 58893, Mexico"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,4,23]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Bin Hafeez, A., Jiang, X., Bergen, P.J., and Zhu, Y. 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