Guzmán-Lorite Miriam, Muñoz-Moreno Laura, Marina María Luisa, Carmena María José, García María Concepción
Departamento de Química Analítica, Química Física e Ingeniería Química, Universidad de Alcalá, Ctra. Madrid-Barcelona Km. 33.600, 28871, Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain.
Departamento de Biología de Sistemas, Universidad de Alcalá, Ctra. Madrid-Barcelona Km. 33.600, 28871, Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain.
Sci Rep. 2025 Jul 1;15(1):20379. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-07910-w.
Pomegranate seed is a high-protein food by-product with demonstrated in vitro antioxidant activity. In this work, we evaluated the effect of pomegranate seed protein isolates (PIs) and hydrolysates, obtained with high-intensity focused ultrasounds (HIFU) and pressurized liquids (PLE), in several cancer-related processes using prostate cancer cells (PC-3) and immunodeficient mice. Specifically, cell viability, migration, clonogenicity, adhesion, cell cycle, metalloproteinase (MMP) activity, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression, and physical tumors parameters were assessed. The extracts reduced tumor cell viability, migration, and proliferation. IC values for cell viability ranged from 3.4 ± 0.1 mg/mL (PLE PI) to 8.0 ± 0.7 mg/mL (HIFU PI). Tumor cell migration in the presence of PIs or hydrolysates was reduced by 35-51%, compared to the control (no extract or hydrolysate addition). Additionally, hydrolyzed HIFU PI increased cell adhesion by 43.2%. HIFU-treated samples induced cell cycle arrest in the S-phase, whereas PLE-treated samples led to apoptosis. In vivo experiments supported these findings, showing that hydrolysates significantly reduced tumor volume (by 42% for HIFU and 57% for PLE) and tumor weight (by 27% for HIFU and 35% for PLE). These changes were accompanied by significant decreases in VEGF levels and MMP activity. The antitumor effects of the extracts and hydrolysates may be attributed not only to intact proteins and peptides but also to co-extracted phenolic compounds, more abundant in the PLE-derived extract.
石榴籽是一种具有体外抗氧化活性的高蛋白食品副产品。在这项研究中,我们使用前列腺癌细胞(PC-3)和免疫缺陷小鼠,评估了通过高强度聚焦超声(HIFU)和加压液体(PLE)获得的石榴籽蛋白分离物(PI)和水解产物在几个癌症相关过程中的作用。具体而言,评估了细胞活力、迁移、克隆形成能力、黏附、细胞周期、金属蛋白酶(MMP)活性、血管内皮生长因子(VEGF)表达以及实体瘤参数。提取物降低了肿瘤细胞的活力、迁移和增殖。细胞活力的IC值范围为3.4±0.1mg/mL(PLE PI)至8.0±0.7mg/mL(HIFU PI)。与对照(未添加提取物或水解产物)相比,在存在PI或水解产物的情况下,肿瘤细胞迁移减少了35%-51%。此外,水解的HIFU PI使细胞黏附增加了43.2%。HIFU处理的样品诱导细胞周期停滞在S期,而PLE处理的样品导致细胞凋亡。体内实验支持了这些发现,表明水解产物显著降低了肿瘤体积(HIFU降低42%,PLE降低57%)和肿瘤重量(HIFU降低27%,PLE降低35%)。这些变化伴随着VEGF水平和MMP活性的显著降低。提取物和水解产物的抗肿瘤作用可能不仅归因于完整的蛋白质和肽,还归因于共提取的酚类化合物,这些化合物在PLE衍生的提取物中更为丰富。