Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10321/5450
Title: Anticancer and anti-reactive oxygen species activity of bioactive peptides isolated from vigna unguiculata
Authors: Ramsookmohan, Sonaal 
Keywords: Anticancer;Peptides;Cowpea
Issue Date: May-2024
Abstract: 
Cancer is a major cause of death globally and continues to escalate with current anticancer
drugs associated with severe side effects and resistance driving the need for safer
alternative therapeutics. Food proteins, from legumes, are a source of bioactive peptides
and studies revealed that they are associated with various therapeutic properties. Cowpea
(Vigna unguiculata) is an underutilized nutritious legume crop with promising potential
due to its documented protein profile. Therefore, this study evaluated the in vitro
anticancer effect of V. unguiculata peptides derived from alcalase and flavourzyme.
Physicochemical properties such as water and oil absorption capacities, emulsifying
properties, sub-unit composition, amino acid composition among others, were also
assessed. Peptides were also evaluated for their antioxidant activity using superoxide
radical scavenging, 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazil (DPPH) and 2,2’-azino-bis (3
ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) (ABTS) assays as well as for their apoptotic
potential using 3-(4,5 dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT),
reactive oxygen species (ROS) and caspase 3/7 assays on cancerous (Caco-2 and MCF
7) and healthy (C2C12) cell lines. From results obtained it was observed that the foam
capacity for the peptides derived from alcalase and flavourzyme were 78.34 and 82.39%,
respectively, which was noted to be significantly different. The physicochemical
properties determined their potential application in food industries. Glutamic acid was the
most abundant amino acid in all samples while methionine was noted to be the least
concentrated amino acid in the flour and alcalase derived sample while proline was the
least concentrated in the flavourzyme sample. Results from this study suggest that cowpea
samples have antioxidant capabilities with enzymatic hydrolysis contributing to a higher
capacity compared to that of raw flour flour samples. From the cowpea flour, the peptide
sample derived from alcalase demonstrated the highest DPPH free radical scavenging
activity (70.88-80.47%), followed by flavourzyme (67.27-75.84%), while the raw flour
sample showed the lowest activity (24.28-66.17%). The ABTS scavenging capacity of
the alcalase peptide was in the range of 35.26-85.92%. The MTT cytotoxicity assay
revealed that the cowpea peptides and camptothecin showed different sensitivities on the
MCF-7 cell lines. The IC50 values of flavourzyme peptide, alcalase peptide and
camptothecin were 0.07, 0.09 and 0.07 µg/mL respectively. Cell viability of the cowpea peptides and camptothecin (control) on the Caco-2 cells
varied with the different concentrations. Alcalase and flavourzyme samples had IC50
values of 0.15 and 0.11 µg/mL respectively. The apoptotic potential of the peptides was
further shown by the caspase 3/7 activity. From the results in this study, it can be
ascertained that the cowpea peptides have potential as an anticancer therapeutic agent.
Further research is necessary to determine mechanism of action and to conduct in vivo
evaluations of these peptides using animal models
Description: 
Submitted in complete fulfilment for the Degree of Master of Applied Sciences in Food Science and Technology at the Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2024.
URI: https://hdl.handle.net/10321/5450
DOI: https://doi.org/10.51415/10321/5450
Appears in Collections:Theses and dissertations (Applied Sciences)

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