Skip to main content
ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Davis, California » Western Human Nutrition Research Center » Immunity and Disease Prevention Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #185797
Title: NUTRIENT-GENE INTERACTIONS INVOLVING SOY PEPTIDE AND CHEMOPREVENTIVE GENES IN PROSTATE EPITHELIAL CELLS

Author
item MAGVANUA, MARK - UCD, MOLECULAR & CELL BIO
item DAWSON, KEVIN - UCD, GENOME LAUNCH CNT.
item Huang, Liping
item MALYJ, WASYL - UCD, GENOME LAUNCH CNT.
item GREGG, JEFF - UCDMC, MOLECULAR PATH.
item GALVEZ, ALFREDO - UCD, MOLECULAR & CELL BIO
item RODRIGUEZ, RAYMOND - UC DAVIS, MED. CNT.

Submitted to: Book Chapter
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/15/2006
Publication Date: 5/1/2006
Citation: Magvanua, M.J., Dawson, K., Huang, L., Malyj, W., Gregg, J., Galvez, A.F., Rodriguez, R.L. 2006. NUTRIENT-GENE INTERACTIONS INVOLVING SOY PEPTIDE AND CHEMOPREVENTIVE GENES IN PROSTATE EPITHELIAL CELLS. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Chapter 11:255-276.

Interpretive Summary: Numerous studies have identified certain components of soybean as having anti-cancer properties. Lunasin, a small soybean protein, has been shown to prevent cancer from occurring in cultured cells and animals. It was shown that lunasin was able to bind to histone, proteins which wrap genetic material of the cell, and change their shapes which result in the expression of cancer fighting genes in the body. In this study, we used microarray technology to study gene expression profiles of normal and cancer- prone prostate cells treated with lunasin. We found that many genes which control cell proliferation, inhibit tumor growth, and promote cell death were positively affected by lunasin. We propose that lunasin prevents cancer by up-regulating the expression of genes that prevent the onset of the disease.

Technical Abstract: Numerous studies have identified certain components of soybean as having anticancer properties. Lunasin, a unique 43-amino acid soybean peptide, has been shown to suppress carcinogenesis in mammalian cells and mouse models. It has been hypothesized that lunasin modulates changes in chromatin organization by modifying histone tails, thereby, resulting in the expression of chemopreventive genes. In this report, microarray analysis was used to reveal a novel property of lunasin - its ability to up-regulate tumor suppressor and other chemopreventive genes in prostate epithelial cells. The effects of exogenous lunasin on the comprehensive gene expression profiles revealed that a total of 123 genes had a greater than twofold change in expression in the lunasin-treated cells as compared to the mock-treated cells. Of these genes, 121 genes were up-regulated in normal RWPE-1 cells and only two genes were up-regulated in malignant RWPE-2 epithelial cells. No genes were down-regulated in either cell line treated with lunasin. The genes up-regulated in RWPE-1 cells include those involved in tumor suppression, apoptosis and the control of cell division. These results shed new light on lunasin's previously observed chemopreventive properties. We propose that lunasin prevents cancer in vitro and in small animal models by up-regulating the expression of genes that prevent the onset of the disease.