No abstract

Lunasin is a unique 43 amino acid soy peptide that has been shown to be chemopreventive in mammalian cells and in a skin cancer mouse model in this work against oncogenes and chemical carcinogens. The observation that lunasin inhibits core histone acetylation led to the proposal of an epigenetic mechanism by which lunasin selectively kills cells that are being transformed by disrupting the dynamics of cellular histone acetylation-deacetylation when the transformation event is triggered by the inactivation of tumor suppressors that function via histone deacetylation. Here is reported for the first time the core histone H3- and H4-acetylation inhibitory properties of lunasin from different Korean soybean varieties used for various food purposes and from tissues of rats fed with lunasin-enriched soy (LES) to measure bioavailability. Lunasin was analyzed by immunostaining and inhibition of core histone acetylation by a non-radioactive histone acetyl transferase assay. Various amounts of lunasin are found in the soybean varieties, which correlated with the extent of inhibition of core histone acetylation. Both soy lunasin and synthetic lunasin inhibit core histone acetylation in a dose-dependent manner. Lunasin in LES is protected from in vitro digestion by pepsin. Lunasin extracted from blood and liver of rats fed with LES is intact and inhibits core histone acetylation.

No abstract

Lunasin, a unique 43 amino acid, 4.8 kDa cancer-chemopreventive peptide initially reported in soybean and now found in barley and wheat, has been shown to be cancer-chemopreventive in mammalian cells and in a skin cancer mouse model against oncogenes and chemical carcinogens. To identify bioactive components in traditional herbal medicines and in search for new sources of lunasin, we report here the properties of lunasin from Solanum nigrum L. (SNL), a plant indigenous to northeast Asia. Lunasin was screened in the crude extracts of five varieties of the medicinal plants of Solanaceae origin and seven other major herbal plants. An in vitro digestion stability assay for measuring bioavailability was carried out on SNL crude protein and autoclaved SNL using pepsin and pancreatin. A nonradioactive histone acetyltransferase (HAT) assay and HAT activity colorimetric assay were used to measure the inhibition of core histone acetylation. The inhibitory effect of lunasin on the phosphorylation of retinoblastoma protein (Rb) was determined by immunoblotting against phospho-Rb. Lunasin isolated from autoclaved SNL inhibited core histone H3 and H4 acetylation, the activities of the HATs, and the phosphorylation of the Rb protein. Lunasin in the crude protein and in the autoclaved crude protein was very stable to pepsin and pancreatin in vitro digestion, while the synthetic pure lunasin was digested at 2 min after the reaction. We conclude that lunasin is a bioactive and bioavailable component in SNL and that consumption of SNL may play an important role in cancer prevention.