Abstract
New insights on the use of peptides as therapeutic agents in the treatment of cancer have emerged with reports showing anti-tumour activity of peptides, predominantly derived from animals or microorganisms. Amaranth is a pseudocereal traditionally acknowledged to possess pharmacotherapeutic properties. Thus, the aim of this study was to compare the in vitro anti-cancer effect of amaranth protein hydrolysates (alcalase, trypsin, and pepsin). Protein hydrolysates were tested for their antioxidant activity together with the anticancer and apoptotic potential. Antioxidants results revealed hydrolysates to have a greater antioxidant effect than un-hydrolysed protein, with results exceeding that of controls. The MTT cytotoxicity assay conducted on MCF-7, A549 and HEK 293 cell lines showed the trypsin hydrolysate to exhibit a preeminent anti-cancer effect. Annexin V-FITC flow cytometry showed an increased number of early apoptotic and late necrotic cells compared to untreated cells, further validated by caspase 3/7 activity. These assays confirmed the induction of apoptosis of the trypsin hydrolysate thereby demonstrating that the hydrolysate can be used as a potential therapeutic against selected cancers.
Highlights
Dixit & Ali (2010) reported the contribution of previous studies in the widely accepted figure that 80-90% of human cancer is caused by environmental factors
Current epidemiological studies have shown consistent consumption of selected nutrients to be associated with a reduced prevalence of cancer and chronic diseases
The peptide bonds between hydrophobic and aromatic amino acids, including phenylalanine, tryptophan, and tyrosine, were cleaved, which resulted in increased hydrophobicity, allowing the pepsin hydrolysate to react with DPPH radicals in the methanol system (Phongthai et al, 2018)
Summary
Dixit & Ali (2010) reported the contribution of previous studies in the widely accepted figure that 80-90% of human cancer is caused by environmental factors. Current epidemiological studies have shown consistent consumption of selected nutrients to be associated with a reduced prevalence of cancer and chronic diseases. This has resulted in functional foods and nutraceuticals becoming popular alternatives or adjuvants to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Proteins are believed to be an imperative source of therapeutic peptides and have been scientifically validated as promoters in preventing certain diseases including cancer. When food proteins are hydrolysed peptides are produced, which are complex mixtures of inactive molecules used for the isolation of bioactive peptides (BAPs) through post-hydrolysis (Kannan, 2009). Some food derived proteins and peptides are currently under preclinical or clinical studies as a possible alternative therapy to commonly used treatments for cancer (Quiroga et al, 2015). Initiation, promotion and progression are stages of cancer development which peptides and proteins exert their action using various mechanisms (Ortiz-Martinez et al, 2014)
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