Adawiyah Suriza Shuib

Evaluation of Selected Culinary-Medicinal Mushrooms for Antioxidant and ACE Inhibitory Activities

Considering the importance of diet in prevention of oxidative stress-related diseases including hypertension, this study was undertaken to evaluate the in vitro antioxidant and ACE inhibitory activities of selected culinary-medicinal mushrooms extracted by boiling in water for 30 min. Antioxidant capacity was measured using the following assays: DPPH free radical scavenging activity, β-carotene bleaching, inhibition of lipid peroxidation, reducing power ability, and cupric ion reducing antioxidant capacity (CUPRAC). Antioxidant potential of each mushroom species was calculated based on the average percentages relative to quercetin and summarized as Antioxidant Index (AI). Ganoderma lucidum (30.1%), Schizophyllum commune (27.6%), and Hericium erinaceus (17.7%) showed relatively high AI. Total phenolics in these mushrooms varied between 6.19 to 63.51 mg GAE/g extract. In the ACE inhibitory assay, G. lucidum was shown to be the most potent species (IC50 = 50 μg/mL). Based on our findings, culinary-medicinal mushrooms can be considered as potential source of dietary antioxidant and ACE inhibitory agents.

Patients with ovarian carcinoma excrete different altered levels of urine CD59, kininogen-1 and fragments of inter-alpha-trypsin inhibitor heavy chain H4 and albumin

BackgroundDiagnosis of ovarian carcinoma is in urgent need for new complementary biomarkers for early stage detection. Proteins that are aberrantly excreted in the urine of cancer patients are excellent biomarker candidates for development of new noninvasive protocol for early diagnosis and screening purposes. In the present study, urine samples from patients with ovarian carcinoma were analysed by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and the profiles generated were compared to those similarly obtained from age-matched cancer negative women.ResultsSignificant reduced levels of CD59, kininogen-1 and a 39 kDa fragment of inter-alpha-trypsin inhibitor heavy chain H4 (ITIH4), and enhanced excretion of a 19 kDa fragment of albumin, were detected in the urine of patients with ovarian carcinoma compared to the control subjects. The different altered levels of the proteins were confirmed by Western blotting using antisera and a lectin that bind to the respective proteins.ConclusionCD59, kininogen-1 and fragments of ITIH4 and albumin may be used as complementary biomarkers in the development of new noninvasive protocols for diagnosis and screening of ovarian carcinoma.

Novel angiotensin I-converting enzyme inhibitory peptides derived from edible mushroom Agaricus bisporus (J.E. Lange) Imbach identified by LC-MS/MS

Angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors derived from foods are valuable auxiliaries to agents such as captopril. Eight highly functional ACE inhibitory peptides from the mushroom, Agaricus bisporus, were identified by LC-MS/MS. Among these peptides, the most potent ACE inhibitory activity was exhibited by AHEPVK, RIGLF and PSSNK with IC₅₀ values of 63, 116 and 129 μM, respectively. These peptides exhibited high ACE inhibitory activity after gastrointestinal digestion. Lineweaver-Burk plots suggested that AHEPVK and RIGLF act as competitive inhibitors against ACE, whereas PSSNK acts as a non-competitive inhibitor. Mushrooms can be a good component of dietary supplement due to their readily available source and, in addition, they rarely cause food allergy. Compared to ACE inhibitory peptides isolated from other edible mushrooms, AHEPVK, RIGLF and PSSNK have lower IC₅₀ values. Therefore, these peptides may serve as an ideal ingredient in the production of antihypertensive supplements.

Urine of patients with early prostate cancer contains lower levels of light chain fragments of inter‐alpha‐trypsin inhibitor and saposin B but increased expression of an inter‐alpha‐trypsin inhibitor heavy chain 4 fragment

The present study was aimed at the identification of proteins that are differentially expressed in the urine of patients with prostate cancer (PCa), those with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and age‐matched healthy male control subjects. Using a combination of 2DE and MS/MS, significantly lower expression of urinary saposin B and two different fragments of inter‐alpha‐trypsin inhibitor light chain (ITIL) was demonstrated in the PCa patients compared to the controls. However, only one of the ITIL fragments was significantly different between the PCa and BPH patients. When image analysis was performed on urinary proteins that were transferred onto NC membranes and detected using a lectin that binds to O‐glycans, a truncated fragment of inter‐alpha‐trypsin inhibitor heavy chain 4 was the sole protein found to be significantly enhanced in the PCa patients compared to the controls. Together, these urinary peptide fragments might be useful complementary biomarkers to indicate PCa as well as to distinguish it from BPH, although further epidemiological evidence on the specificity and sensitivity of the protein candidates is required.

Proteomic Analysis of Antihypertensive Proteins in Edible Mushrooms

Mushrooms are high in protein content, which makes them potentially a good source of antihypertensive peptides. Among the mushrooms tested, protein extracts from Pleurotus cystidiosus (E1Pc and E5Pc) and Agaricus bisporus (E1Ab and E3Ab) had high levels of antihypertensive activity. The protein extracts were fractionated by reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RPHPLC) into six fractions. Fraction 3 from E5Pc (E5PcF3) and fraction 6 from E3Ab (E3AbF6) had the highest antihypertensive activities. SDS-PAGE analysis showed E5PcF3 consisted mainly of low molecular weight proteins, whereas E3AbF6 contained a variety of high to low molecular weight proteins. There were 22 protein clusters detected by SELDI-TOF-MS analysis with five common peaks found in E5PcF3 and E3AbF6, which had m/z values in the range of 3940-11413. This study suggests that the antihypertensive activity in the two mushroom species could be due to proteins with molecular masses ranging from 3 to 10 kDa.

Stimulatory effects of polysaccharide fraction from Solanum nigrum on RAW 264.7 murine macrophage cells.

The polysaccharide fraction from Solanum nigrum Linne has been shown to have antitumor activity by enhancing the CD4+/CD8+ ratio of the T-lymphocyte subpopulation. In this study, we analyzed a polysaccharide extract of S. nigrum to determine its modulating effects on RAW 264.7 murine macrophage cells since macrophages play a key role in inducing both innate and adaptive immune responses. Crude polysaccharide was extracted from the stem of S. nigrum and subjected to ion-exchange chromatography to partially purify the extract. Five polysaccharide fractions were then subjected to a cytotoxicity assay and a nitric oxide production assay. To further analyze the ability of the fractionated polysaccharide extract to activate macrophages, the phagocytosis activity and cytokine production were also measured. The polysaccharide fractions were not cytotoxic, but all of the fractions induced nitric oxide in RAW 264.7 cells. Of the five fractions tested, SN-ppF3 was the least toxic and also induced the greatest amount of nitric oxide, which was comparable to the inducible nitric oxide synthase expression detected in the cell lysate. This fraction also significantly induced phagocytosis activity and stimulated the production of tumor necrosis factor-α and interleukin-6. Our study showed that fraction SN-ppF3 could classically activate macrophages. Macrophage induction may be the manner in which polysaccharides from S. nigrum are able to prevent tumor growth.

THE INTERACTION OF SELECTIVE PLANT LECTINS WITH NEURAMINIDASE-TREATED AND UNTREATED IgA1 FROM THE SERA OF IgA NEPHROPATHY PATIENTS

A study on the binding interaction of lectins from Artocarpus heterophyllus (jacalin), Glycine max and Sambucus nigra with standardised quantity of IgA from the IgA nephropathy patients and normal controls was performed. The Glycine max lectin demonstrated higher affinity towards the serum IgA of IgAN patients as compared to normal controls. However, the affinity binding was lower in cases of jacalin and the Sambucus nigra lectin. When serum samples were treated with neuraminidase, the differential jacalin affinity binding between IgA1 of patients and normal controls was abrogated. Our data are in support of the view that the O-linked oligosaccharide moieties of the patients IgA1 were generally lacking in galactose and sialic acid residues.

Identification of O-glycosylated Proteins That Are Aberrantly Excreted in the Urine of Patients with Early Stage Ovarian Cancer

Cancer is known to induce or alter the O-glycosylation of selective proteins that may eventually be excreted in the patients’ urine. The present study was performed to identify O-glycosylated proteins that are aberrantly excreted in the urine of patients with early stage ovarian cancer (OCa). These urinary glycoproteins are potential biomarkers for early detection of OCa. In this study, urinary proteins of patients with early stage OCa and age-matched OCa negative women were subjected to two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and detection using a lectin that binds to the O-glycosylated proteins. Our analysis demonstrated significant enhanced expression of clusterin and leucine-rich alpha-2-glycoprotein, but lower levels of kininogen in the urine of the OCa patients compared to the controls. The different altered levels of these urinary glycoproteins were further confirmed using competitive ELISA. Our data are suggestive of the potential use of the aberrantly excreted urinary O-glycosylated proteins as biomarkers for the early detection of OCa, although this requires further validation in a large clinically representative population.

Detection of differential levels of proteins in the urine of patients with endometrial cancer: analysis using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and o-glycan binding lectin.

Cancers can cause some proteins to be aberrantly excreted or released in the urine, which can be used as biomarkers. To screen for potential biomarkers for endometrial cancer (ECa), the urinary proteins from patients who were newly diagnosed with early stage ECa and untreated controls were separated using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) and followed by image analysis. The altered levels of zinc alpha-2 glycoprotein, alpha 1-acid glycoprotein, and CD59 were detected in the patients compared to the controls. In addition, the urine of the ECa patients was also found to contain relatively lower levels of a fragment of nebulin when the 2-DE separated urinary proteins were probed using champedak galactose binding (CGB) lectin. The different levels of the nebulin fragment were further validated by subjecting the urinary protein samples to CGB lectin affinity chromatography and analysis of the bound fractions by LC-MS/MS. Our data is suggestive of the potential use of the differentially expressed urinary proteins as biomarkers for ECa although this requires further extensive validation on clinically representative populations.

Tumor suppression effect of Solanum nigrum polysaccharide fraction on Breast cancer via immunomodulation

A polysaccharide fraction from Solanum nigrum, SN-ppF3 was shown previously to have an immunomodulatory activity where it could possibly be used to enhance the host immune response in fighting cancer. The non-toxic SN-ppF3 was fed orally to breast tumor bearing-mice with concentrations of 250 and 500mg/kg for 10days. During the treatment period, size of the tumor and weight of the mice were monitored. At the end of the treatment, blood, tumor, spleen and thymus were harvested for physiological and immunological analyses. After the treatment, the tumor volume and tumor weight were significantly inhibited by 65% and 40%, respectively. Based on the histological observation, the treatment of SN-ppF3 resulted in the disruption of tumor cells morphology. The increase in infiltrating T cells, NK cells and macrophages were observed in tumor tissues of the treated mice, which partly explained the higher apoptosis tumor cells observed in the treated mice. Moreover, the level of TNF-α, IFN-γ and IL-4 were elevated, while the level of IL-6 was decreased significantly, in serum of the treated mice. These results suggested that tumor suppression mechanisms observed in SN-ppF3-treated mice were most probably due through enhancing the host immune response.