Another study shows the mechanism of the anti-leukaemia effect of shikonin as it binds and inhibits the expression of c-MYC and affects the phosphorylation of AKT, ERK1/2, and SAPK/JNK (Zhao et al., 2015); Zhao et al. (2015) evaluated shikonin and its fourteen derivatives against U937 leukaemia cells for their anti-leukaemia potential. This evidence concerns the gene MAPK9 and leukemia.