: Given that cancer is a disease that is rampant in the world and especially in Africa where the population has enormous difficulty in treating it, plants are a safer and less expensive alterna-tive. Cassava is one of the plant species valued in Benin because of its numerous medicinal and nutritional virtues. This study evaluated the biological activities of amygdalin from the organs of three cassava varieties most produced in Benin (BEN, RB, and MJ). HPLC analysis was used to quantify amygdalin in cassava organs and derivatives. Phytochemical screening was performed to determine secondary metabolite groups. DPPH and FRAP methods were used to assess anti-oxidant activity. Cytotoxicity of the extracts was tested on Artemia salina larvae. The an-ti-inflammatory activity was evaluated in vivo on albino mouse paw edema model induced by 5% formalin. The anticancer activity was evaluated in vivo on Wistar rats rendered cancerous by 1,2-dimethylhydrazine (DMH) using 5-fluorouracil as reference molecule. The results showed that the organs of all three-cassava varieties contained glycosides, flavonoids, saponosides, ster-oids, tannins, coumarins, and cyanogenic derivatives. Young stems and fresh leaves of cassava had the highest amygdalin concentration with 11142.99 µg 10 g-1 and 9251.14 µg 10 g-1 respec-tively. The Agbeli derivative was more concentrated in amygdalin with a content of 401.56 µg 10 g-1 than the others derivatives. The antioxidant activity results showed that the amygdalin ex-tracts were found to be DPPH radical scavengers with IC50 values ranging from 0.18 mg mL-1 to 2.35 mg mL-1. The cytotoxicity test showed no toxicity of the extracts toward shrimp larvae. Ad-ministration of amygdalin extracts from the leaves of BEN and MJ varieties prevents inflamma-tory edema. The percentages of edema inhibition varied between 21.77% and 27.89%. These val-ues are similar (p> 0.05) to that of acetylsalicylic acid (25.20%). Amygdalin extract of BEN variety significantly (p<0.0001) reduces edema. Cancer induction with DMH was inhibited by both BEN extract. In both preventive and curative treatments, rats fed with amygdalin extracts showed low anti-cancer activity under the effect of DMH and the significant difference in biochemical results. Thus, the organs of all three cassava varieties studied have secondary metabolites and good an-tioxydant activity. The leaves contain high levels of amygdalin and can be used as an-ti-inflammatory and anticancer agents.

Metabolic syndrome is a multifactorial disorder whose etiology is resulting from the interaction between genetic and environmental factors. Calpain 10 (CAPN10) is the first gene associated with type 2 diabetes that has been identified by positional cloning with sequencing method. This gene codes for cysteine protease; ubiquitously expressed in all tissues, it is involved in the fundamental physiopathological aspects of insulin resistance and insulin secretion of type 2 diabetes. The goal of this study was to evaluate the genetic susceptibility to the metabolic syndrome by the CAPN10 gene in the population of southern Benin. This study involved apparently healthy individuals' aged 18 to 80 in four ethnic groups in southern Benin. It included 74 subjects with metabolic syndrome and 323 nonmetabolic syndrome patients who served as controls, with 222 women versus 175 men with an average age of 40.58 ± 14.03 years old. All subjects were genotyped for the SNP 19 polymorphism of the CAPN10 gene with the PCR method in order to find associations between this polymorphism and the metabolic syndrome. We found an association between this polymorphism and a risk of developing the metabolic syndrome only in the Tori and Nago ethnic groups. Genotype 1/1, a risk factor for the occurrence of the metabolic syndrome, is associated with environmental and nutritional factors in the four ethnic groups studied. The results of our study show that only the Goun and Nago ethnic groups have a genetic predisposition to the metabolic syndrome toward CAPN10 gene.