Henarejos-Escudero Paula, Hernández-García Samanta, Guerrero-Rubio M Alejandra, García-Carmona Francisco, Gandía-Herrero Fernando
Departamento de Bioquímica y Biología Molecular A, Unidad Docente de Biología, Facultad de Veterinaria, Regional Campus of International Excellence "Campus Mare Nostrum″, Universidad de Murcia, 30100 Murcia, Spain.
Antioxidants (Basel). 2020 Jul 22;9(8):646. doi: 10.3390/antiox9080646.
Betalains are plants pigments identified as potent antioxidant molecules, naturally present in foods like beetroot and prickly pears. Although activities described for betalain-containing formulations include cancer prevention and treatment, the use of extracts instead of purified pigments has avoided the investigation of the real chemopreventive and chemotherapeutic potential of these phytochemicals. Three betalain-rich extracts and six individual pure betalains were used in this work to characterize the activity and to explore possible molecular mechanisms. The animal model (tumoral strain JK1466) was used to evaluate the effect of betalains as chemotherapeutics drugs. An objective evaluation method of tumor growth in has been developed to assess the possible antitumoral activity of the different treatments. This protocol allowed a fast and reliable screening of possible antitumoral drugs. Among the betalains tested, tryptophan-betaxanthin reduced tumor size by 56.4% and prolonged the animal's lifespan by 9.3%, indicating high effectiveness and low toxicity. Structure-activity relationships are considered. Assays with mutant strains of showed that the mechanism underlying these effects was the modulation of the DAF-16 transcription factor and the insulin signaling pathway. Our results indicate that tryptophan-betaxanthin and related betalains are strong candidates as antitumoral molecules in cancer treatment.
甜菜色素是一种植物色素，被认为是有效的抗氧化分子，天然存在于甜菜根和仙人掌果等食物中。尽管含甜菜色素配方所描述的活性包括癌症预防和治疗，但使用提取物而非纯化色素避免了对这些植物化学物质真正的化学预防和化疗潜力的研究。在这项工作中，使用了三种富含甜菜色素的提取物和六种单一的纯甜菜色素来表征其活性并探索可能的分子机制。使用动物模型（肿瘤菌株JK1466）来评估甜菜色素作为化疗药物的效果。已开发出一种评估肿瘤生长的客观方法，以评估不同治疗方法可能的抗肿瘤活性。该方案允许快速可靠地筛选可能的抗肿瘤药物。在所测试的甜菜色素中，色氨酸 - 甜菜黄质使肿瘤大小减少了56.4%，并使动物寿命延长了9.3%，表明其高效且低毒。考虑了构效关系。对突变菌株的试验表明，这些作用的潜在机制是对DAF - 16转录因子和胰岛素信号通路的调节。我们的结果表明，色氨酸 - 甜菜黄质及相关甜菜色素是癌症治疗中作为抗肿瘤分子的有力候选者。
